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I 


THOUGHTS 


ON    THE 


ANGLICAN  AND  ANGLO-AMERICAN 

CHURCHES.     VRW 

N.YO"RJK. 


BY  JOHN  BRISTED, 

COUNSELLOR  AT   LAW, 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  RESOURCES  OF  TtlE  BRITISH  EMPIRE,"  AND  OF  "THE 
RESOURCES  OF  THE  UVITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA." 


Manet  alta  Mentc  repostum.     Firgil. 


E(c  T(t)v  ^fibjv  ■ypa<pitiv  bfoXoyov^iev  Kav  ^t\Qicnv  ot  6X^/""»  "'"''  /"■>>•      Chrysoslnm, 

Study,  without  prayer,  is  athehm — prayer,  without  study,  is  presumption. 

Bishop  Sa7i(lerso?t. 


NEW  YORTC,  PRINTED, 


LONDON: 
REPRINTED  FOR  B.  J.  HOLDSWORTH, 

IS,  ST.  Paul's  church-yahd. 

1823. 


;1 


73  7 
^77 


ENTERED  AT  STATIONERS'  HALL. 


LONDON  : 
PRINTED    BY    S.    AND    R,    BENTLEY,    DORSET    STREET. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


The  following  pages  are  in  tended,  merely,  as  the 
lierald  of  a  more  extended  and  minute  inquiry  into 
the  causes  of  the  present  positive  and  relative  weak- 
ness and  inefficiency  of  the  Anglican  and  American- 
Anglo-Churches;  notwithstanding  their  external  ad- 
vantages, and  their  truly  evangelical  hturgy,  articles, 
and  homilies,  the  precious  legacy  of  those  blessed 
reformers  and  martyrs,  who  sealed  the  constancy  of 
their  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  the  pouring 
out  of  their  own  life-blood. 

All  personal  and  party  feelings  are  distinctly  dis- 
claimed ;  the  only  object  being  to  exhibit  the  causes, 
and  to  point  out  the  remedy  of  those  evils,  which  have 
too  long  marred  the  beauty  and  blasted  the  useful- 
ness of  two  most  important  sections  of  the  Christian 
*Church. 

I  was  induced  to  examine  the  effects  of  the  English 
national  church  establishment,  in  consequence  of  being 
referred,  in  the  winter  of  1821-2,  to  Mr.  Wilks's  work 
on  "  Correlative  Claims  and  Duties,"  by  the  editor  of 
a  most  respectable,  and  truly  evangelical,  religious 
journal,  published  in  London.  jNIy  attention  was 
particularly   directed    to  that  portion   of   JNIr.  Wilks's 

A  2 

/4'  JL  «-■>  -A-  *-^ 


IV  ADVEIITISKMENT. 

book,  in  which  a  most  deplorable  picture  of  the  condi- 
tion of  religion  in  these  United  States  is  drawn;  and 
the  evil  accounted  for,  by  the  want  of  a  church  and 
state  establish??ient  in  this  country. 

JOHN  BRISTED. 

Neiv-York\  September^  1822. 


v•-^ 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


Advertisement,  iii.  iv. 

Introduction — Protestant  episcopal  church,  1,  Author's  fa- 
ther, 1,2.  Iiiiporlance  of  pastoral  duty,  3.  Collegiate  systetn,  3. 
Stated  ministry,  4.  Fornmliats,  3,  4.  Evangelical  clergy,  5, 
Rev.  T.  Scott,  6.  Public  schools  in  England,  6.  No/iiinal  Chris-- 
tianity,  7.  Atonement,  8.  Jeremy  Taylor,  8.  Fagging,  9.  Bi- 
shop lluntingford,  10.  Bishop  Mant,  11.  Winchester  rebellion, 
11.  Pious  education,  12.  Church  of  Christ,  13.  Septimus  Collin- 
son,  15.  Anglican  church  and  state,  16.  Bishop  Warburton,  17. 
Religious  proscription,  18.  Test  and  corporation  acts,  18.  Church 
patronage,  19.  Formalism,  20.  Bishop-making,  21.  Election  of 
bishops,  22.  American  bishops,  23.  American-Anglo-Church,  24. 
Tithes,  25.  Lord  Chatham,  25.  British  expenditure,  26.  Irish 
state  clergy,  27.  Irish  popery,  28.  Irish  character,  29-  State  of 
Ireland  as  to  popery  and  protestantism,  30.  Simpson's  plea,  31. 
Micaiah  Towgood,  32.  Messrs.  Bogue  and  Bennet,  33.  Anglican 
Church,  S3.  Edinburgh,  34.  Mr.  Alison,  35.  Halyburton,  35. 
Study  of  sceptical  writers,  36.  Infidelity,  37.  Medical  faculty,  37. 
United  States  and  Britain,  38.  Christian  Observer,  39.  Dr.  Mason, 
40,  41.      Dr.  Chalmers,  42.     American  lawyers,  43. 


CHAPTER  I. 

On  the  Anglican  Church  Estah/ishmenf. 

Rev.  S.  C.  Wilks,  44.  Necessity/  of  church  establishment,  45. 
Cunsluntine,  45,  46.  Parliament  church,  47.  Popish  establish- 
ments, 48.  Present  English  church  establishment,  49.  Late 
queen  and  liturgy,  60.  Secular  religion,  51.  State  clergy  not 
martyrs,  52.  Irish  church  establishment,  53.  Religion  tn,  and 
out  of  the  establishment,  54.  Anglican  bishops  m  1760,  55.  Eng- 
hsh  clergy,  5G.      Secular  clergy,    57.     Importance    of    national   re- 


vi  CONTENTS. 

ligion,     58.     Latitudivariun    clergy,    59.       Orthodox    clergy,    60. 
Evangelical  clergy,  62.      Revivals  discouraged  by  English  church, 
63.       Recent  episcopate,   63.      Importance   of  dissenters,  64.      On 
America,  64.      On  true  religion,   65.      On    social  religion,  66.     On 
sacred  literature,  67.     Bodies   of  divinity,   68.      Rev.  T.  Scott,  69. 
Horror    of     Calvinism,     70.     On     public    morals,    71.      National 
church     character,   72.       Good  examples,   73.     Civil    liberty,    74. 
Religious  liberty,  75.      Church  evangelicals   persecuted,  76.      Na- 
tional prosperity,   77.     Churchmen  and  dissenters,  78.     The  Eng- 
lish   a    persecuting    church,    79.       The    schisju  bill,    80.       Protest 
against    it,     81.      Popery   schemes,     82.     Church    catechism,   83. 
Church  persecution,  84.      .Tansenist  and  atheist,   85.      Bishop  Tom- 
line,  86.     American  Tomlines,  87.      Francis   the  first,  88.     Cardi- 
nal Bellavmin,  8,9.      Gecuge  first   and   second,   90.      George    third, 
91.      George    fourth,     92.      Persecuting    bishops,    93.      Suspended 
curates,    94,   95.       Power  of    bishops,  96.       Rev.  I.  P.  Jones,  97. 
Counter  signature,  98.     Church   peril,  gc).      Popular  opinion,    100. 
Intolerance,    101.      Lipsius,     102.       Defender    of    the   faith,     103. 
Reading  sermons,.  104.       Unpreaching     bishops,   105.       Names    of 
reproach,  106.     Joan  of  Kent,  106.     Anabaptists,  107.      Reforma- 
tion   imperfect,    108.     Protestant    martyrs,    108.       Formal    perse- 
cutor?, 109.      Established  and  unestablished,  110.    Arch  calumniator, 
111.     High   commission  uniformity,    112.      Elizabeth's  injunctions, 

113.  Family  prayer  discouraged,  113.  Church  vestments,  114. 
Puritans  and  baptists  executed,  115.  Low  state  clergy,  116. 
Elizabeth's  pipty,  116.  James  the  first,  117.  Leaning  to  popery, 
118.  Hampton  court  conference,  119.  Sunday  sports,  120. 
Arians  burned,  121.  Schemes  of  Laud,  122,  Charles  the  first, 
123.  Laud's  cruelty,  124.  Arminian  archbishop,  125.  Chief 
justice  Richardson,  126.  Leighton,  Prynne,  127.  Emigrations, 
128.  Laud's  prevarication,  129.  Charles's  proclamation,  130. 
Seventeenth  aiticlc,  131.  Ri-chard  Montague,  132.  Bishop  Da- 
venant,  133.  Predestination,  134.  Charles's  Jesuitism,  135. 
Generic  formahsm,  136.  Laud  whitewashed,  Johnson  Grant, 
Joanna  Southcote,  137.  Infidelity,  popery,  138.  Ceremonial  re- 
ligion, 139.  Burnet's  character  of  Laud,  140.  Modern  theology, 
144,     Bishop  Gleig,  142.     Dogmatism,  143.       Party  feeling,  O.  P. 

114.  Church  preferment,  145.  Clarendon's  apothegm,  146. 
Laud  in  Scotland,  147.  English  state  clergy,  148.  New-York 
Sabbath,  149.  Church  overthrow,  150.  Modern  formalists,  151. 
Compulsory  uniformity,  152.  Sin  of  schism,  153.  Presbyterian 
persecution,  154.  State  churches  cruel,  155.  Button  breach,  156. 
Ejected  allowance,  157.  Protestant  council,  158.  Stuart  cruelty, 
159.  James  Sharp,  160.  Goodwin,  Cromwell,  l6'l.  Borel,  Charles, 
162.  Westminster  Assembly,  163.  Commonwealth  religion,  164. 
National  religion,  165.  Cromwell's  chaplains,  166'.  Baseness  of 
Charles,  167.  Clarendon,  Southampton,  168.  Bartholomew  Act, 
169.  Mistake  of  the  Christian  Observer,  170.  Proportion  of 
Church   evangelicals,    171.      Sheldon,   173.      Formal  clergy,   esta- 


CONTENTS.  vii 

blished,    unestablished,    174.     Charles's  popery,  176.     Patriarch  of 
Constantinople,  177.       Present    state  church,  178.     Secular  clergy, 
179.      Charles's   bishops,   180.       Savoy    conference,   181.      Baxter, 
Gunning,  185.      Stricter  conformity,  183.      Foreign  ordination,  184. 
French     Bartholomew,    185.       Ejected    ministers,    186.       Noncon- 
formists, 18?.      Grasping  state  clerg-y,   188.      Philosophical  divines, 
189.      Infidehty,  formalism,  190.       Emperor  of  Austria,  lj-)l.      Po- 
pery,  Irenicum,  192.      New  style  of  preaching,  193.      Execution  of 
Bartholomew  act,  194.      Conventicle  act,  19o.     Five   mile  act,  196. 
Charles's  hypocrisy,  197.      Making  a  bishop,  198.      Comprehension 
scheme,  199.      Parker,  Marvel,  200.      Venal   parliament,  201.     Sir 
John  Coventry,  202.       Lord  Sidmouih's  bill,  203.      State  churches, 
204.      English    infidelity,    205.       Anglican  Church  tendencies,  206, 
Nominal  Christians,  207.     Samuel  Shaw,  208.      Books  recommend- 
ed,  209.        Profligate    court,   210.      Infidelity,  211.      Sabbath    pro- 
fanation, 212.     Church  formalism,  213.      Fashionable  theology,  214. 
High  and   low  church,  215.       Doctrines  of  grace,  216.      Revival  in 
England,  217.     English  state  clergy,  218.      Bolmgbroke,  Calvin,  219. 
Bishop   Trelawney,    220.       Episcopal     Declaration,  221.      Church 
evangelicals,   222.     Church  despotism,    223.     Scottish   episcopacy, 
224.     Jurants,    nonjurants,  225 — their    reunion,  226.     Church    or- 
der, 227.     Mr.  llervey,  228.      Sectarian  bigotry,  229.       Mr.  Robin- 
son,   230.      Mr.   Scott,  Mr.  Newton,    231.       London  religion,  232. 
Protestant  association,    233.      Spirit  of    popery,    234.      Church   bi- 
gotry, 235.     General  profligacy,  236.       Church  evangelicals,  237. 
Revivals,  238.       Discouraged   in    Anglican    Church,   239  ;    and   in 
American-Anglo-Church,  240.     Formalism,  popery,  241.      Revivals. 
Best  Christian,  242.       Church    evangelism,  irreligion,    243.     Irish 
toleration,     244.       God's    government,    245.       Newton's   situation, 
246'.       Home     heathenism,    Moravians,    247.       Prayer,      missions, 
248.     Church  order,  249.     Infidelity,  lay  preaching,  250.     Dark- 
ness    of    England,    251.       Church     negligence,    awakenings,    252. 
Growth    of   dissenters,   253.       Politics,  Catholicism,   254.      Formal 
preaching,  255.      Proportion  of  church  evangehcals,  256.       Church 
preferment,  257.      Church  ordination,   258.      Christian    Observer, 
259.     Bible  Societv,   260.     Estabhshed  churches,  261.     Condition 
of  Ireland,    262.      Irish    state    clergy,    263.      Papal    tyranny,   264. 
Cure    of  souls,    265.      Formal  church   preaching,    266.       Infidelity, 
sedition,  267.      English   public    schools,    268.      Religious  education, 
269.     British  government,    270.      Learned  clergy,  271.     Converted 
ministry,   272.      London  criminals,   273.      State  church  negligence, 
274.     State  church    character,    275.     State  church    patrons,  276. 
Recapitulation,  277,  278. 

CHAPTER  H. 

On  the  Anglican  Church  F^stobUshment. 

Wilks  on  American  religion,   279.       Necessity  of  state  church, 
280.     British  Review,  281.     American  religion,  282.    Dr.  Beecher's 


viii  CONTENTS. 

ralculatior.s,  283.  Proportion  of  American  clergy,  284.  Their 
general  character,  28.'j.  Anglican  clergy,  286,  Theological  semi- 
naries, 287.  Other  institutions,  288.  Harmony,  revivals, missions, 
289.  Progress  of  U.  S.,  2.90.  Religious  services,  291.  Church 
unity,  292.  Exclusive  churchmanship,  296".  Wilherforce,  Dau- 
beny,  297.  Sir  Richard  Hill,  298.  Church  definition,  299.  An- 
tijacobin  Review,  300.  True  church,  301.  Church  building,  302. 
Church  patronage,  303.  Mr.  Gladstone,  305.  Bishop  Ryder,  306". 
Best  church  patronage,  307.  Besf^  church  treasury,  308.  American 
objects,  309.  British  pressure,  310.  Salaried  sinecin-es,  311. 
Crown  influence,  312.  Postmaster,  public  opinion,  313.  New- 
York  Church  establishment,  314.  V^irginia  Church  establishment, 
31.5.  English  stale  church,  316.  Earlier  methodists,  317.  Ox- 
ford expulsion,  318.  Mr.  Welling,  319.  Drs.  Nowell  and  Durell, 
320.  Check  to  evangelism,  321.  Sir  Robert  VValpole,  322.  Sa- 
cramental test,  323.  Spirit  of  sect,  324.  Want  of  ordinances,  325. 
Evangelizing  the  earth,  326.  Efforts  of  Britain,  327.  Power  of 
sectarianism,  328.  American  religion,  329.  Report  of  General 
Assembly,  330.  Rational  Christianity,  331.  Want  of  ministers, 
332.  Religion  is  increasing,  333.  INlissions,  revivals,  334.  Prayer, 
preaching,  335.  Seamen,  Princeton,  336.  American  sects,  337. 
British  religion,  338.  American  home  mission,  339.  New-Eng- 
land regulations,  340.  The  standing  order,  341,  Massachusetts 
religion,  342.  Congregational  order,  343.  New-England  charac- 
ter, 344.  Condition  of  United  States,  345.  American-Anglo- 
Church,  346.  Diocesan  consolidation,  347.  Parish  making  and 
voting,  348.  Primitive  persecutions,  349.  First  state  church. 
350.  Christianity  before,  351,  and  after  establishment,  332. 
Church  governments  in  United  States,  353.  American-Anglo- 
Churcli,  354.  Presbyterians,  methodists,  355,  Congregationalists, 
356. 

CHAPTER   III. 

On  the  Anglican  Church  Establishment. 

English  church  patronage,  358.  British  cabinet,  359,  English 
cliurch  perishing,  360,  Churchmen,  nonconformists,  36'l,  Head  oftlie 
church,  36'2.  English  cluirch  notions,  363.  Uncstablished  church, 
36"4,  Scottish  Kirk,  365.  Bishops  Home,  Horsley,  366. 
An  American  divine,  367.  Christian  cliurch,  368.  Evangelical 
curatis,  369*  Evangelical  presentees,  370.  English  church  pa- 
tronage, 371.  Rev.  T.  Scott,  372.  Peterborough  questions,  373. 
English  clergy  training,  374.  Foxhunting  parson,  375.  Evange- 
lical preaching,  376.  Church  of  God,  377.  English  church  preach- 
ing, 37S.  Ready-made  sermons,  379.  Rev.  Mr.  Bugg,  380.  Rev. 
Dr.  Stuart,  381.  Bishop  Tomline,  382.  American  Tomlines,  383. 
Praying  punished,  38  (-.  Formalism  depopulates,  385.  The  Angli- 
can Church,  3S6.  Evangelism  fills  it,  3<S7.  Two  ends  of  preach- 
ing, 388.      Retarded    progress,   389.      Of  American-Anglo-Church, 


CONTENTS.  ix 

390.  Clerical  fornvalism,  391  •  Sabbatical  indulgence,  3i)'2.  Un- 
learned clergy,  393.  American-Anglo-Church  performances,  3J)4. 
Prospects  of  American-Anglo-Church,  395.  British  burdens,  3^)6. 
American  feelings,  397.  No  carriage  horses,  398.  Agricultural 
distress,  399-  English  peasantry,  400.  Game  laws,  401.  Con- 
dition of  Ireland,  402.  Canning,  Peel,  403.  Religious  disabilities, 
404.  State  church  inetl'ectual,  405,  and  formal  and  persecuting, 
406,  and  weakens  government,  407.  Evangelism  increasing,  408  ; 
but  not  owing  to  state  church,  409,  which  persecutes  evangelism, 
410.  Rev.  Mr.  Polwhele,  411.  Mr.  Wilks's  position  doubted,  412. 
Anticipation  of,  413.      Future  labours,  414. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Exclusive  Ch  urchmanship. 

Popish  infallibility,  415.  English  dissenters,  416.  A  popish  te- 
net, 417.  Argumentum  ad  modestiam,  418.  Condition  of  sal- 
vation, 419.  Uncovenanted  mercy.  420.  Dodwell  nonjuror,  421. 
r)elief  in  a  bishop,  422.  Whittield,  423.  Episcopacy,  presbytery, 
424.  Wandsworth  presbytery,  425.  Grave  questions,  426.  Arch- 
bishop Wake,  427.  Rev.  Samuel  Wix,  428.  Dissenters,  papists, 
429.  Rev.  Dr.  Bowden,  430.  Unchurching,  431.  National 
churches,  432.  Covenant-dilemma,  433.  Calvinislic  presbyte- 
rians,  434.  Mr.  Wesley,  435.  Calvin,  Van  Armin,  436.  .Tusti- 
tication  by  faith,  437.  Formal  theology,  438.  General  Wolfe, 
churchmanship,  439.  Church,  visible  and  invisible,  440.  The 
true  church,  441.  Religious  indifference,  442.  Preach  the  gos- 
pel, 443.  Christianity,  clergy,  444.  Covenant  of  grace,  445. 
Henry  Martyn,  446.  Church  of  Christ,  447.  All  sects  exclusive, 
448.  No  exclusive  church,  449.  Name  of  Christ,  450.  Church 
controversy,  451.  Dr.  How,  Millennium,  452.  Catholic  com- 
munion, 453.  Formal  monopolies,  454.  Jewish  formalists,  455. 
RoiDan  and  Anglican  Churclies,  456.  Lutherans,  reformers,  457. 
Bishop  Ridley,  458.  Christian  rivalry,  459-  Salvation  individual, 
460.     Church  order,  461. 

CHAPTER  V.  , 

Baptismal  Rcgeneratiun. 

Bishop  Mant,  462.  Real  regeneration,  463.  Women  in  trou- 
ble, 464.  Matthew  Mead,  465.  Dead  baptism,  466.  Baptism, 
wliHt,  467.  Modern  theology,  468.  Predestination,  469.  Ful- 
gentius,  4/0.  Infant  damnation,  471.  Church  declension,  472. 
Waterland,  Doddridge,  473.  Tomline,  Scott,  474.  Richard  Manl, 
475.  Simon  Magus,  476.  Mant's  tendencies,  477.  Antiiiumi- 
anism,  popery,  478.  Opus  operatum,  479.  Transubstantiation, 
480.     Ciallnw"s   doctrine,    481.     Mant's  contradictions,    482.      Wa- 


X  CONTENTS. 

terland,  Mant,  483.  Justification  by  faith,  484.  Bishop  La- 
vington,  485.  Papists,  dissenters,  486.  Formal  champion,  48?. 
Eclectic  Review,  488.  falling  church,  489.  Formal  church, 
490.  Radicals,  evangelicals,  4yi.  .Subsequent  conversion,  492! 
Scott,  Milner,  4()3.  Rtal  regeneration,  4.94.  Lord  Thurlow, 
495.  Worldly  morality,  496.  Formal  Calvinists  and  Arminians' 
497.  Marks  of  formalism,  498.  Formal  priests,  499.  Bishop 
Kay,  500.  ' '  ^ 


THOUGHTS 


ON    THE 


ANGLICAN  AND  AMERICAN-ANGLO-CIIUIICHES^- 


INTRODUCTION.  * 


.iliH\R>^ 


Humanly  speaking,  I  have  a  kind  of  hereditary  and  ^ 
family  claim  to  be  enrolled  among  the  advocates  of  all 
that  vitally  concerns  the  well-being  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal' Chnrch,  whether  it  be  that  established  in 
England,  or  its  legitimate  offspring  located  in  these 
United  States. 

My  father,  grandfather,  and  great-grandfather  were 
all  beneficed  clergymen  in  the  Church  of  England. 
My  elder  brother  is  so  now;  and  I  was  myself,  accord- 
ing to  the  custom  of  men,  under  that  national  establish- 
ment, marked  out  for  the  clerical  calling  from  my  very 
birth.  It  was,  in  truth,  the  dearest  wish  of  my  most 
venerable  father's  heart,  that  all  his  sons  should  be  de- 
voted to  the  ministry  of  reconciliation.  For  this  his 
prayers  were  ever  on  the  wing  to  the  Throne  of  Grace, 
but  he  died  without  receiving  a  full  answer  to  his  peti- 
tions. His  youngest  son,  while  yet  scarcely  ripening 
into  manhood,  perished  in  the  navy ;  his  second  boy 
embraced  a  civil  occupation ;  and  his  eldest  born,  alone, 
waits  upon  the  stately  steppings  of  Jehovah,  in  the 
Sanctuary. 

What  tribute  of  affection  and  of  gratitude  shall  I 
render  unto  thee,  my  father  and  my  friend,  my  guardian 
and  my  guide  ? 

In  all  the  stages  and  departments  of  this  ever-chang- 
ing scene  of  life,   my  sainted   sire    bore  his  faculties 


B 


2  author's  father. 

meekly  and  well.  As  a  son,  he  was  obedient,  dutiful, 
affectionate;  as  a  brother,  kind,  tender,  protecting;  as 
a  husband,  indulgent,  gentle,  devoted;  as  a  father,  be- 
nignant, liberal,  abounding  in  all  good ;  as  a  friend, 
faithful,  generous,  constant;  as  a  public  magistrate, 
upright,  just  and  pure;  as  a  man,  high  in  talent,  exten- 
sive in  learning,  fertile  in  wisdom,  eloquence  and  wit ; 
in  social  intercourse,  the  delight  and  joy  of  every  one. 
And  above  all,  as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  he  was  sin- 
cere and  zealous  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  his 
highest,  hohest,  best  vocation ;  loyal  and  true  to  his 
great  INIaster,  the  Captain  of  Salvation ;  a  plain,  per- 
spicuous, powerful  preacher  of  the  doctrines  of  grace 
to  his  flock  ;  in  his  parish  a  faithful  pastor,  visiting  his 
people  from  house  to  house,  and  ever  administering  to 
their  spiritual  needs  and  earthly  wants ;  a  most  merci- 
ful parent  to  the  poor  and  destitute.  In  fine,  so  happily 
tempering  the  blaze  of  genius  with  the  milder  and  more 
heavenly  lustre  of  the  Christian  graces,  meekness,  for- 
bearance, patience,  charity,  that  he  won  the  affection, 
esteem,  respect  and  reverence  of  all  who  knew  him. 

In  early  life,  he  distinguished  himself  as  an  accom- 
plished classical  scholar ;  he  bore  away,  also,  one  of 
the  highest  mathematical  honours  at  Cambridge,  as 
second  wrangler  of  his  year.  Fully  fitted  by  his  ta- 
lents, his  connexions,  his  acquisitions,  his  accomplish- 
ments, his  fortune,  to  mingle  with  and  mount  in  the 
tumultuous  intercourses  and  conflicts  of  the  world,  he 
preferred  the  calm,  sequestered  vale  of  life,  to  all  the 
excitements  of  ambition,  the  seductions  of  pleasure,  the 
temptations  of  wealth.  He  held  on  the  noiseless  tenor 
of  his  way  as  an  humble  parish  priest,  watching  over 
and  labouring  for  the  best,  the  everlasting  interests  of 
a  plain  unlettered  peasantry. 

In  his  life  he  exemplified  the  blessed  influences  of 
the  doctrines  of  the  Cross ;  and  in  his  death,  he  bore 
the  fullest  testimony  that  faith,  undivided  faith  in  the 
free  and  finished  salvation,  the  gratuitous,  unmerited, 
sovereign  mercy,  the  infinite  sacrifice,  the  all-sufficient 
i-ighteousness,    the   all-prevailing    intercession    of  the 


FXr.LISn    ESTABLISHMENT.  15 

greater  advantage  would  the  Word  of  Life  be  dis- 
pensed !  Our  hearers  then,  being  habituated  to  the 
consideration  of  Divine  truths,  woukl  enter  more  easily 
into  the  various  subjects  set  before  them.  They  would 
attend  with  pleasure  and  profit,  more  especially  when 
arrived  at  years  of  discretion  ;  whereas  7iow,  the  greater 
part  of  our  auditories  hear  as  if  they  heard  not,  and 
continue  years  under  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel,  without 
ever  understanding  its  fundamental  truths. 

At  the  age  of  seventeen,  in  several  conversations  with 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Septimus  CoUinsou,  Provost  of  Queen's 
College,  Oxford,  my  resolution  as  to  taking  orders  was 
considerably  shaken.  The  main  substance  of  the 
learned  Provost's  arguments,  in  order  to  dissuade  me 
from  entering  the  Church,  was,  that  as  all  the  livings 
in  the  establishment  were  under  the  control  of  patron- 
age, public  or  private  ;  either  ministerial,  as  represent- 
ing the  government,  or  lay,  as  belonging  to  individual 
noblemen  and  gentlemen ;  or  clerical,  as  vested  in  sin- 
gle bishops  or  in  religious  bodies ;  a  man's  location  or 
ascent  in  the  national  Church. did  not  depend  exclu- 
sively, or  chiefly,  or,  probably,  at  all,  upon  his  own  ta- 
lents, learning  and  character ;  but  upon  some  extnnsic 
influence,  some  remote  contingencies  and  probabilities, 
over  which  he  had  no  control. 

In  addition  to  which,  he  represented  the  clerical  mar- 
ket in  England  as  being  overstocked ;  the  number  of 
parishes  and  church  benefices  bearing  no  reasonable 
proportion  to  the  multitudes  of  the  national  clergy. 
Whence,  he  concluded,  that  either  of  the  other  learned 
professions,  whether  law  or  physic,  would  be  prefer- 
able for  a  young  man  to  pursue,  as  rendering  him  in  a 
greater  degree  the  master  and  carver  out  of  his  own 
fortunes. 

All  these,  and  other  similar  observations,  to  be  sure, 
bore  only  a  secular  aspect,  and  had  nothing  to  do  with 
preaching  the  Gospel,  either  to  the  poor  or  to  the  rich ; 
yet,  falling  from  the  lips  of  a  clergyman  high  in  the  es- 
tablishment, advanced  in  years,  and  distinguished  for 
his  talents  and   learning,    made   a   deep   and   lasting 


16  CHUUCH    AND    STATE. 

impression  upon  my  unexperienced,  unballasted  mind; 
and  induced  me  to  relinquisli  all  thoughts  of  the  church, 
and  embrace  the  calling  of  a  ])hysician. 

My  ever  to  be  revered  father  was  exceedingly  grieved 
at  this  determination,  but  did  not  oppose  it,  because  he 
thought,  most  justly,  that  tlie  fact  of  my  pausing  as  to 
a  preference  of  any  other  vocation,  was  full  proof  of 
my  unfitness  to  enter  upon  the  ministry  of  reconcilia- 
tion. His  prayers  and  tears,  however,  were,  to  the  last 
hour  of  his  lengthened  life,  continually  rising  up  before 
Jehovah's  awful  throne,  that  his  wilful  boy  might  yet 
be  brought,  by  the  blessed  influences  of  the  Spirit  of 
God,  to  see  and  feel  the  infinite  superiority  of  faithfully 
proclaiming  the  doctrines  of  the  cross  to  any  mere 
worldly  vocation.  And  he  solemnly  enjoined  me,  in 
whatever  calling  T  might  finally  settle  down,  and  where- 
soever I  might  be  ultimately  situated,  to  set  apart  some 
portion  of  every  day  for  the  study  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  commentaries,  and  systems  of  divinity,  and  books 
in  any  way  calculated  to  explain  or  illustrate  the  Word 
of  God. 

My  objections  to  the  Church  of  England  were  then, 
and  are  now,  confined  exclusively  to  her  political  posi- 
tion ;  her  close  alliance  with  the  state ;  her  system  of 
patronage,  whether  lay  or  clerical,  excluding  the  con- 
gregations altogether  from  any  choice  of  the  clerk,  who 
is  to  minister  to  them  spiritually ;  and  her  provision  of 
tithes.  Her  liturgy,  articles,  and  homilies,  are  all 
strictly  spiritual ;  and  when  faithfully  set  forth,  and 
supported  by  the  preaching  and  living  of  evangelical 
clergymen,  are  eminently  calculated,  under  the  gracious 
influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  call  men  from  dark- 
ness into  light,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God. 

My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,  emphatically  de- 
clares the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  But  bishop  Warburton, 
with  all  his  immense  talents  and  exhaustless  ingenuity, 
urges  the  position,  that  the  Church  and  the  State,  in 
England,  are,  in  themselves,  two  free  and  independent 
sovereigns,  and  as  such,  form  a  mutual,  equal  alliance 
and  league  between  each  other ;  in  the  same  manner  as 


BISHOP    WARRURTON.  17 

is,  or  niiglit  be,   done  between  any  two  other  earthly- 
potentates. 

But,  without  encountering  any  detail,  we  may  simply 
ask,  who  is  the  head  of  this  independent,  sovereign 
church  ?  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself.  And  does 
He  enter  into  an  equal,  mutual  alliance,  offensive  and 
defensive,  with  impious,  irreligious,  profligate,  formal 
sovereigns  ?  for  example,  with  the  brutal,  bloody  Henry 
— the  politic,  arbitrary  Elizabeth ;  or  the  perfidious 
persecuting  dynasty  of  the  Stuarts  ?  Utricin  horum  ma- 
vis^  accipe.  Which  will  ye  believe  ?  The  Saviour  him- 
self, who  says  his  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,  or  the 
right  reverend  William  Warburton,  who  seeks  to  stamp 
the  secular  stain  upon  its  beauty  of  holiness  ? 

In  addition  to  this,  the  political  wisdom  of  excluding 
every  other  religious  denomination,  except  the  domi- 
nant sect,  from  an  equal  participation  in  the  rights, 
privileges  and  offices  of  government,  is  more  than 
doubtful.  This  policy  proscribes,  and  thus  renders 
useless,  if  not  hostile,  at  least  one-third  of  the  talent, 
learning,  piety  and  efficiency  of  the  whole  empire. 
Mr.  Bates,  a  loyal  adherent  to  the  British  government, 
and  a  sound  churchman  withal,  in  his  valuable  work 
called  "  Christian  Politics,"  recommends,  that,  while 
the  Anglican  church  should  be  protected  in  all  her  pre- 
sent emoluments,  benefices  and  dignities,  the  partition 
wall  be<iween  her  and  the  other  denominations  should 
be  so  far  thrown  down,  as  to  admit  every  religious  per- 
suasion, throughout  the  empire,  to  an  equal  share  in 
the  offices  of  government,  whether  civil  or  military  ; 
giving  to  all  the  citizens  equal  political  rights  and  pri- 
vileges, and  allowing  to  the  national  church  the  exclu- 
sive enjoyment  of  her  revenues  and  ecclesiastical  pre- 
rogatives. 

It  is  not  easy  to  find  a  valid  reason  why  Britain 
should  not  repeal  her  T'est  and  Corporation  acts ;  laws 
passed  amidst  the  heat  and  smoke  of  religious  intole- 
rance and  persecution.  She  has  already  done  it,  with 
signal  success,  in  relation  to  her  Irish  protestant  dis- 

c 


18  rvEI.IGIOUS    PROSCKIPTIOX. 

senters.  And  why  not  extend  the  boon  to  all  the 
dissenting  sects  throughout  the  nation ;  and  thus,  in- 
definitely, augment  her  own  intellectual  and  moral 
power,  by  permitting  all,  instead  of  only  a  privileged 
order  of  her  people,  to  serve,  aid  and  support  her,  to 
the  full  extent  of  their  capacity  and  powers,  in  her  civil 
and  military  functions  ;  in  the  field  and  on  the  flood ; 
in  foreign  courts,  and  in  her  home  councils  and  cabinet  ? 

Other  countries  have  learned  this  lesson  of  practical 
political  wisdom.  In  these  United  States,  every  reli- 
gious communion  is  placed  on  equal  ground,  as  to  all 
civil  rights  and  privileges.  By  a  provision  of  the  fede- 
ral constitution,  the  general  government  is  interdicted 
from  regulating  or  interfering  with  the  religion  of  the 
Union ;  and  the  separate  states,  for  the  most  part,  have 
confined  their  legislative  enactments  to  the  mere  civil 
incorporation,  with  certain  restrictions,  of  such  religious 
bodies  as  apply  for  charters.  In  the  United  Nether- 
lands, in  Prussia,  in  Russia,  nay,  even  in  France,  there 
is  no  exclusive  national  church,  shutting  out  the  other 
sects  from  equal  political  privileges  ;  but  in  those  coun- 
tries all  religious  denominations  stand  on  the  same  level 
of  social  claim  and  right. 

During  the  time  when  Russia  broke  down  the  mili- 
tary  strength  of  revolutionary  France,  the  commander 
in  chief  of  all  her  armies  belonged  to  the  communion  of 
the  Greek  Church ;  her  minister  of  finance  was  a  pro- 
testant,  and  her  premier,  a  papist.  Her  affairs,  civil  and 
military,  were  not  the  worse  conducted,  in  her  agonizing 
struggle  for  existence,  because  she  disfranchises  none  of 
her  people  of  their  political  rights,  on  account  of  their 
religious  opinions  or  belief 

But  the  ministerial  and  lay  patronage  of  the  Anglican 
Church  is  subject  to  a  much  higher  and  more  awful 
objection  than  tlie  mere  want  of  political  wisdom,  in 
shutting  out,  for  ever,  so  much  talent,  learning  and 
efficiency  from  the  service  of  the  state.  It  almost  of 
necessity  ensures  a  constant  supply  oi  formalism^  at 
least,  if  not  of  absolute  irreligion,  to  the  clerical  esta- 
blishment. 


CHURCir    PATRONAGE.  19 

Under  this  national  system,  boys  are  regularly  bred 
up  to  the  Church,  as  to  any  secular  calling ;  for  in- 
stance, the  army,  or  navy,  or  law,  or  physic,  or  mer- 
chandize; and  are  thus  continually  thrust  into  the 
priest's  office  for  a  morsel  of  bread,  in  defiance  of  the 
denunciations  of  Scripture.  If  a  father,  or  uncle,  or 
more  distant  relation,  or  friend,  or  acquaintance,  or  the 
government,  have  a  valuable  living,  well  endowed 
with  ample  tithes,  to  dispose  of,  the  fortunate  clerk 
for  whom  it  is  designed  is  forthwith  inducted,  without 
the  shadow  of  an  inquiry  into  his  fitness  for  so  sacred, 
so  momentous  a  charge,  as  that  of  professing  to  minis- 
ter to  the  spiritual  wants  of  perishing  sinners.  His 
piety,  talents,  learning,  industry  and  aptness  for  pulpit 
exercises  and  pastoral  duty,  are  all  taken  for  granted ; 
and  a  whole  congregation  of  immortal  souls  are  trans- 
ferred, like  so  many  cattle,  to  the  ghostly  care  of  a  man, 
who  probably  never  has  seen,  nor  ever  intends  to  see 
them  ;  but  consigns  them  and  their  everlasting  interests 
to  the  supervision  of  some  under-paid  curate. 

Suppose,  what  has  happened  in  English  history,  that 
the  British  Prime  Minister,  and  the  Lord  Hiffh  Chan- 
cellor  of  England,  who  share  between  them  the  whole 
enormous  church  patronage  of  the  crown,  including  the 
making  of  bishops,  should  be  both,  or  either  of  them, 
avowed  infidels,  or  merely  irreligious,  secular  and  formal 

.      What  sort  of  bishops  would  be  appointed  to 

fill  the  vacant  sees  ?  What  kind  of  clergy  to  possess  the 
empty  parishes  ?  Evangelical  men,  think  you,  imitators 
and  followers  of  the  holy  Apostles,  and  primitive  pastors, 
or  smooth,  courtly,  pliant  politicians,  and  careless,  irre- 
ligious, immoral  clerks  ? 

The  individual  lay-patrons,  also,  whetlier  noble  or 
gentle,  put  into  the  livings  in  their  gift,  either  gratui- 
tously or  by  open  sale  in  the  market,  as  of  any  other 
estates,  the  sale  of  church-livings  being  advertised  in 
the  English  newspapers  as  the  sales  of  negro  slaves  are 
advertised  in  our  American  journals,  pastors  of  their 
own  choice  or  price.  In  the  election,  or  call  of  these 
pastors,   the  people    composing  the  congregation  have 

c  2 


20  FORMALISM    AND    IXIIDELlTr. 

neither  voice,  nor  part,  nor  lot ;  but,  nevertheless,  are 
required  to  pay  them  tithes,  and  sit,  either  under  their 
ministration,  or  that  of  some  stipendiary  substitute. 

Waiving,  for  the  present,  all  remark  about  the  bar- 
ter and  sale  of  church-livings,  and  the  patronage  of 
bishops,  and  other  clerical  corporations,  which  must 
ever  bear  the  hue  and  colouring,  religious  or  irreligious, 
of  the  patron's  own  sentiments;  let  us  advert,  for  a 
moment,  to  the  regular  and  ordinary  course  of  lay-pa- 
tronage. 

If  the  lay-patron  heiiot  religious  himself,  and  it  is  no 
want  of  charity  to  suppose  that  some  of  them  steer  quite 
clear  of  all  evangelism,  the  probability  is  that  the  in- 
cumbent, placed  in  a  living  by  him,  will,  also,  not  be 
too  well  acquainted  with,  nor  be  very  deeply  interested 
in,  the  propagation  of  the  all-important  truths  and  doc- 
trines involved  in  the  stupendous  scheme  of  human  re- 
demption, as  revealed  in  Holy  Writ.  And  perhaps  few 
things  are  better  calculated  to  foster  the  growth  of  inji- 
delity,  and  its  inseparable  adjuncts,  discontent,  radicalism 
and  rebellion,  in  a  country,  than  the  foisting  into  a7iy 
church,  but  more  especially  into  a  national  establishment, 
men  who  dole  out  only  a  little  thin,  diluted,  unsubstan- 
tial morality,  once  in  seven  days,  made  up  of  shreds  and 
patches  from  mere  ethical  writers,  whether  ancient  or 
modern ;  instead  of  regularly  expounding  the  great 
statute-book  of  Christianity,  and  habitually  inculcating 
the  essential,  the  characteristic,  the  distinguishing  doc- 
trines and  practical  duties  of  the  everlasting  Gospel. 

And  yet,  while  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  English 
national  clergy  are  7iow,  and  have  been  for  several  ge- 
nerations past,  starving  their  flocks  upon  the  husks  of 
formalism,  grave  personages  of  all  ages  and  aspects, 
profess  to  marvel  at  the  rapid  decline  and  diminution  of 
the  national  church,  and  the  portentous  growth  of  other 
religious  denominations,  whose  pastors,  on  moderate 
stipends,  perform  faithfully  and  successfully,  the  all- 
important  duties  of  the  highest,  holiest,  most  interest- 
ing, most  useful  vocation  that  can  be  accorded  to  man. 
To  which    add   the   awful    increase   of  seditious  and 


BISHOr-MAKING.  21 

revolutionary  movements  among  the  irreligious  part  of 
the  population,  which  frequent  no  place  of  worship, 
but  by  law  belong  to  the  establishment,  which  claims 
all  not  openly  dissenting.  It  is  simply  impossible  that 
such  numerous  hordes  of  radical  banditti  could  be  found 
to  infest  the  peace  and  threaten  the  existence  of  all  that 
is  valuable  in  England,  if  the  eleven  thousand  national 
clergy  performed  their  duty,  as  it  behoves  evangelical 
ministers,  who  are  faithful  stewards  of  the  mysteries 
of  godliness,  committed  to  their  care. 

The  power  vested  in  the  crown  of  appointing  all  the 
bishops  in  the  Church  of  England  by  the  writ  of  cong6 
iVeslire,  or  leave  to  choose,  transmitted  to  the  dean 
and  chapter  upon  every  episcopal  vacancy,  is,  perhaps, 
still  more  objectionable  ;  because  it  in  effect  vests  in 
the  existing  cabinet  ministers  the  creation  of  all  those, 
who  ought  to  be  the  evangelical  guardians  of  their  re- 
spective dioceses.  How  far  men,  so  deeply  immersed 
in  mere  political  occupations  and  secular  pursuits,  as 
the  cabinet  ministers  of  England  must  always  be,  are 
fitted  to  select  those  best  qualified  to  discharge  the  mo- 
mentous spiritual  duties  of  the  episcopate,  needs  no 
discussion.  That  they  do  not  always  stumble  upon 
men  remarkable  for  their  attachment  to  the  truths  and 
doctrines  of  the  Bible,  and  of  the  liturgy,  articles  and 
homilies  of  the  Anglican  church,  is  manifest  from  their 
having  made  so  many  baptismal  regeneration  doctors, 
and  double  justification,  and  captious,  sophistical  ques- 
tion men,  bishops  of  a  protestant  establishment. 

The  very  preamble  to  the  act  of  parliament,  passed 
in  the  year  1786,  under  which  the  American  bishops, 
Provost  and  AVhite,  were  consecrated  in  England, 
shows  how  completely  the  election  and  consecration  of 
English  bishops  are  under  the  control  of  the  crown. 
The  preamble  begins  thus — "  Whereas  by  the  laws  of 
this  realm,  no  person  can  be  consecrated  to  the  office  of 
a  bishop,  without  the  king's  license  for  his  election  to 
that  office,  and  the  royal  mandate,  under  the  great  seal, 
for  his  confirmation  and  consecration,"  &c. 


22  ELECTION    OF    BISHOPS. 

"  If  I  am  prejudiced  at  all— says  Mr.  Granville  Sharp, 
in  his  '  Law  of  Retribution'— I  am  sure  it  is  in  favour 
of  episcopacy ;  lor  I  not  only  entertain  a  most  sincere  per- 
sonal respect  and  esteem  for  several  truly  worthy  and 
learned  individuals  of  that  order  now  living,  but  I  am 
even  descended  from  one  of  the  same  holy  function,  (his 
grandfather,  archbishop  Sharp,)  who,  in  his  corre- 
spondence with  foreign  protestant  Churches,  very  ably 
defended  and  promoted  the  establishment  of  episcopa- 
cy ;  and  above  all,  I  am  thoroughly  convinced  by  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  that  the  institution  of  tliat  order  in 
the  Christian  Church  is  of  God  ;  and  that  the  only  de- 
fect in  the  English  Establishment  of  it,  is  the  want  of 
a,Jree  election  to  the  office. 

"  For  as  it  may  be  proved,  that  the  Churches  of  Bri- 
tain and  Ireland  have  a  just  and  ancient  right  to  elect 
their  own  bishops,  and  did  actually  exercise  that  right  for 
many  ages,  till  the  antichristian  usurpation  of  monks 
and  popes,  over  the  secular  or  parochial  clergy,  occa- 
sioned the  interference  of  kings  ;  so  it  may  be  as  clear- 
ly demonstrated,  that  the  present  mode  of  election,  by 
writ  of  co?ig^  d'eslire,  sent  to  the  several  cathedral 
chapters,  together  with  a  letter  missive,  containing  the 
name  of  the  person  which  they  shall  elect  and  choose, 
agreeably  to  the  act  of  25  Hen.  VIII.  c.  20.  s.  4.  is  a 
total  perversion  of  that  just  and  ancient  right  above- 
mentioned,  and  is  entirely  destructive  of  all  the  desira- 
ble purposes  of  a  free  election. 

'•  This  practice,  however,  cannot  be  censured  in 
stronger  terms  than  those  in  which  it  is  expressly  con- 
demned by  a  subsequent  act  of  parliament,  1  Ed.  VI. 
c.  2. — though  the  former  act  is  supposed  to  be  still  in 
force — viz.  :  '  the  said  elections  be,  in  very  deed,  no 
elections,  but  only  by  a  writ  of  congd  d'eslire,  have 
colours,  shadows  and  pretences  of  elections,  serving, 
nevertheless,  to  no  purpose,'  &c. 

'*  If  it  had  not  been  for  this  notorious  defect  in  point 
of  election,  and  the  general  idea  of  its  consequences, 
I  am  persuaded  that  the  late  worthy  primate  of  England 


AMEllICAN  BISHOPS.  23 

would  uot  have  found  such  opposition  in  his  endeavours, 
some  few  years  ago,  to  promote  the  establishment  of 
episcopacy  in  America." 

What  this  opposition  to  which  INIr.  Sharp  alludes 
was,  and  what  difficulties  stood  in  the  way  of  establish- 
ing bishops  in  this  country,  are  minutely  detailed  by 
bishop  White,  in  his  "  JNIemoirsofthe  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church  in  the  United  States  of  America." 

In  a  long  note,  subjoined  to  the  observations  above 
cited,  Mr.  Sharp  exhibits  much  learned  lore  in  ecclesi- 
astical antiquities  and  history,  to  prove  that  election  was, 
in  the  primitive  times  of  Christianity,  the  usual  mode  of 
elevation  to  the  episcopal  chair,  throughout  all  Christ- 
endom ;  and  that  this  election  was  made  promiscuously 
by  the  laity,  as  w  ell  as  by  the  clergy.  But,  afterwards, 
emperors,  and  kings,  and  popes,  a  most  evangelical 
triumvirate,  invaded  the  freedom  of  election,  and  usurp- 
ed to  themselves  the  power  of  appointing  bishops,  on 
their  sole  unresponsible  authority ;  first  excluding  the 
laity,  and  then  ousting  the  clergy  from  any  share  in  the 
superseded  elections. 

By  the  fourth  article  of  the  constitution  of  the  Ame- 
rican-Anglo-Church, it  is  enacted,  that  the  bishop,  or 
bishops,  in  every  state,  shall  be  chosen  agreeably  to  such 
rules  as  shall  be  fixed  by  the  Convention,  which  con- 
sists of  both  laity  and  clergy,  of  that  state.  And  the 
second  canon  ordains,  that  no  diocese  or  state  shall  pro- 
ceed to  the  election  or  appointment  of  a  bishop,  unless 
there  be,  at  least,  six  officiating  presbyters,  or  priests, 
residing  therein,  and  who,  agreeably  to  the  canons  of 
the  Church,  may  be  qualified  to  vote  for  a  bishop ;  a 
majority  of  whom,  at  least,  shall  concur  in  such  elec- 
tion. 

At  present  there  are  nine  bishops  in  the  Americau- 
Anglo-Church,  to  wit,  of  the  eastern  diocese,  including 
the  states  of  INIaine,  New-Hampshire,  Massachusetts, 
Vermont,  and  Rhode-Island ;  of  the  states,  respective- 
ly, of  Connecticut,  New- York,  New-Jersey,  Pennsyl- 
vania, Maryland,  Virginia,  South  Carolina,  and  Ohio. 
There  are  two  dioceses,  the  state  of  Delaware,  and  the 


*3 


24  AMERICAN- ANGLO-CHURCH. 

state  of  North  Carolina,  which  have  no  bishops.  Eve- 
ry state  in  the  Union  may  become  a  diocese  whenever 
its  protestant  episcopalians  are  sufficiently  numerous, 
and  deem  it  expedient. 

The  whole  Church  is  governed  by  the  General  Con- 
vention, whose  power  pervades  every  diocese.  It  sits 
regularly  once  in  three  years  ;  but  may  be  especially  con- 
vened in  the  interval.  It  consists  of  an  upper  house, 
composed  of  all  the  existing  bishops  ;  and  of  a  lower 
house,  containing  a  delegated  portion  of  clergy  and 
laity  from  each  diocese.  The  state  conventions  are  held, 
for  the  most  part,  annually  in  each  diocese,  and  consist 
of  clergy  and  lay-delegates  from  every  separate  con- 
gregation. These  bodies  legislate  for  their  respective 
dioceses ;  but  their  canons  must  not  contradict  the  con- 
stitution of  the  general  Church. 

The  liturgy,  articles,  and  homilies  of  the  Anglican 
Church  are  adopted,  with  some  few  slight,  local  altera- 
tions. No  particular  revenues  are  attached  to  the  epis- 
copate ;  and  the  bishops,  generally,  are  parish  priests, 
in  addition  to  their  bishoprics.  But  efforts  are  making 
in  several  aioceses  to  raise  a  bishop's  fund,  in  order  to 
disengage  the  diocesan  from  parochial  duty,  and  leave 
him  at  leisure  to  perform  the  services  that  are  deemed 
more  peculiarly  episcopal.  Archbishops  there  are  none, 
nor  prebendaries,  nor  deans,  nor  archdeacons,  nor 
a  long  list  of  et  ceteras  to  be  found  in  the  Anglican 
Church  ;  the  only  orders  are  three,  bishops,  presbyters, 
and  deacons.  The  senior  bishop  presides  in  the  house 
of  bishops,  during  the  session  of  the  General  Conven- 
tion. 

The  parish  priests  are  elected,  according  to  the  char- 
ters of  the  congregations.  Some  Churches  choose 
their  minister  by  the  vestry,  consisting  of  persons  elect- 
ed annually  by  the  pew-holders.  Others  by  ballot,  the 
whole  congregation  voting.  The  bishops  have  no  di- 
rect patronage — no  livings  in  their  gift.  The  clergy 
are  settled  by  the  choice  or  call  of  the  people  to  whom 
they  minister;  and  the  stipend  is  fixed  by  the  compact  be- 
tween the  pastor  and  the  congregation  ;   and  the  com- 


CHURCH    TITHES  25 

mon  law  enforces  the  fulfilment  of  this  contract  on  both 
sides,  whence  all  undue  dependence  of  the  clergy  on  the 
people  is  prevented. 

The  system  of  tithes  in  England,  is,  perhaps,  the 
very  worst  possible  mode  of  providing  for  the  national 
clergy  that  could  be  devised.  They  impede  the  pro- 
gress of  agriculture,  and  create  and  keep  alive  perpetual 
dissensions  between  the  parish  priest  and  his  own  peo- 
ple ;  and  maintain  in  a  state  of  incessant  exasperation 
all  those  other  sects,  who  dissent  from  the  doctrines  or 
discipline  of  episcopacy. 

The  tithes  take  a  tenth  part  of  all  the  gross  produce 
of  the  land,  and  consequently  operate  as  a  tax,  oppres- 
sive in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  capital  expended  in 
cultivating,  and  not  to  the  net  profits  of  the  produce  of 
the  land ;  whence  they  grow  more  and  more  grievous, 
as  a  country  expends  more  and  more  capital  in  agricul- 
ture; and  inflict  a  much  greater  proportional  burden 
upon  England  now,  when  so  vast  an  aggregate  of  farm- 
ing capital  is  employed  in  that  country,  than  when 
agriculture  consisted  chiefly  in  pasture,  and  little  money 
was  expended  in  culture  or  tillage. 

The  tithe  system,  in  England,  is  almost  as  pernicious 
a  pressure  as  the  poor  laws,  the  public  debt,  or  the 
game  laws;  all  of  which  are,  in  their  nature  and  amount, 
singularly  oppressive;  and  two  of  them  tend  directly  to 
produce  immorality,  vice  and  crime.  The  tithes,  in 
conjunction  with  the  other  property  of  the  united  An- 
glican and  Hibernian  churches,  amount  to  an  annual 
income  of  about  ten  millions  sterling,  nearly  forty-five 
millions  of  dollars,  equal  to  nearly  one-fourth  of  the 
rental  of  England  and  Ireland.  A  state  of  things,  in 
relation  to  ecclesiastical  matters,  not  very  widely  differ- 
ing from  that  represented  by  Lord  Chatham,  as  taking 
place  prior  to  the  Reformation  : — "  this  country,  my 
lords,  was  at  that  time  thus  parcelled  out ;  the  king  had 
a  third  of  the  land  for  his  share ;  another  third  was 
divided  among  the  barons ;  and  the  church,  God  bless 
it !  took  the  remaining  third  to  itself" 


26  BlUTISH    EXrENDITURK. 

To  the  yearly  revenues  of  the  national  church  add 
eight  millions  sterling  for  poor  rates,  thirty-seven  mil- 
lions for  the  interest  of  the  public  debt,  redeemed  and 
unredeemed,  and  seventeen  millions  for  government  ex- 
penditure, amounting  altogether  to  seventy-two  millions 
of  pounds  sterling — about  three  hundred  and  fifty  mil- 
lions of  dollars  a  year — averaging  nearly  eighteen  dol- 
lars a  head  of  public  contribution,  or  tax,  for  each 
inhabitant  of  the  British  isles.  In  this  estimate,  the  tax 
imposed  by  the  cor7i  laws  of  England,  calculated  at 
twenty-five  millions  sterling  a  year,  is  not  included. 

The  only  sure  means  of  inducing  the  English  people 
to  bear  such,  or  any  other  burdens  patiently  and  cheer- 
fully, is  to  diffuse  evangelical  truth  and  light  among 
them  ;  by  which  they  will  learn  to  see  and  to  practise, 
alike  their  duty  towards  God  and  towards  man.  The 
prevalence  oi  formalism  in  their  churches,  long  conti- 
nued, will  infallibly  produce  a  prevalence  of  irreligion, 
and  discontent,  and  rebellion,  which  must  eventually 
shatter  to  their  foundations  the  united  fabrics  of  church 
and  state. 

The  tithe  system,  in  Ireland,  is  still  more  oppressive 
than  in  England.  Four-fifths  of  the  population  are 
papists;  in  many  parishes  all  the  people  are  Romanists, 
having  no  protestant  minister  residing  among  them  ; 
but  the  nominal  parson,  the  incumbent,  lives  either  in 
England  or  in  France,  or  elsewhere,  as  suits  his  own 
convenience  or  inclination ;  and  the  tithe-proctor,  in 
terrible  unison  with  the  middle  man  and  the  popish 
priest,  grinds  down  the  Irish  farmer  and  peasant  to  the 
dust,  and  perpetuates  their  abject,  hopeless  poverty. 

A  very  sensible  and  gentlemanly  pamphlet,  on  the 
education  of  the  peasantry  of  Ireland,  apparently  writ- 
ten by  an  Irishman,  thoroughly  attached  to  the  British 
constitution  and  government,  has  been  lately  published. 
After  exhibiting  a  spirited  contrast  between  the  condi- 
tion of  England  and  Scotland  and  that  of  Ireland,  the 
author  expressly  charges,  that  of  the  two  burdensome 
ecclesiastical   establishments,    one   imparts    little,   the 


HUSH    STATE-CLEKGY.  27 

other  no  instruction  to  the  mass  of  the  Irish  people. 
Of  course,  it  is  the  business  of  the  popish  priesthood 
not  to  instruct  the  people ;  and  they  do  that  part  of 
their  business  most  effectually. 

The  established  protestant  church  in  Ireland  derives 
immense  revenues  from  the  whole  population  of  the 
country,  without  distinction  of  sects,  in  the  shape  of 
tithes  and  other  sources  of  income ;  but,  avowedly,  con- 
fines its  instruction  to  a  very  small  portion  of  the  peo- 
ple. The  author  entertains  but  little  hope  of  proselyt- 
ing Irish  papists,  while  the  existing  discouragements  of 
the  law  continue  to  support  the  system  of  the  Homan 
church.  Let  a  wise  system  of  policy  abolish  all  poli- 
tical distinctions  among  the  different  religious  sects  in 
Ireland,  and  let  the  national  clergy  preach  the  Gospel 
faithfully,  and  no  fear  need  be  entertained  but  that  real, 
evangelical  prot^tantism,  will  make  rapid  and  effectual 
headway  in  that  hitherto  benighted  country. 

The  writer  remarks,  that  in  England  there  is  no  na- 
tional clergyman  without  some  congregation  ;  but  in 
Ireland,  many  of  the  established  clergy  have  no  con- 
gregation whatever ;  whence  a  character,  merely  secit- 
la7\  is  impressed  upon  them,  and  they  are,  in  effect, 
little  else  than  decent  country  gentlemen,  acting  as  jus- 
tices of  the  peace,  attending  upon  quarter-sessions, 
and  county  meetings,  and  living,  in  fact,  like  decorous 
laymen.  Nay,  it  is  stated,  that  sometimes  these  pro- 
testant clergymen  "  accumulate  the  incongruous  ho- 
nours, the  splendid  arrayment,  the  scarlet  and  the  gold, 
and  the  glittering  steel  of  a  yeomanry  captain.''''  We 
really  think  that  this  is  .pushing  the  church-militant  a 
little  too  far. 

It  is  superfluous  to  ask,  if  such  a  clerical  system,  pro- 
ceeding thus,  is  likely  to  aid  the  cause  of  the  protestant 
church,  or  evangelize  papists  ? 

The  writer  states,  that  not  only  no  relation  subsists 
between  the  popish  population  and  the  established 
clergy,  but  that  even  the  protestant  peasantry  have  lit- 
tle or  no  intercourse  with  them,  as  pastors;  so  alien 
from  all  clerical  qualities  and  attributes  are  these  ec- 


28  IRISH    rOPERV. 

clesiastical  soldiers  and  magistrates.  In  some  of  the 
most  popish  parts  of  Ireland  families  of  protestant  pea- 
sants are  scattered.  These,  though  they  may  punctu- 
ally attend  the  church,  and  though  they  may,  all  their 
lives  long,  profess  an  abhorrence  of  popery,  yet  in  sick- 
ness, in  the  hour  of  death,  when  they  look  for  that 
consolation,  which  the  prejudices,  antipathies,  and  par- 
tialities of  this  world  can  no  longer  bestow,  they  look 
only  to  the  popish  priest.  He  is  sent  for,  and  the  dy- 
ing man,  rather  than  be  without  all  spiritual  aid — for 
expecting  any  attendance  from  the  protestant  incumbent 
is  out  of  the  question — renounces  the  religion  which, 
2)erhaps,  he  yet  prefers,  and  dies  a  papist. 

If  such  be  the  effect  of  the  absence  of  every  thing 
clerical  in  the  cha^cter  of  the  protestant  clergy,  what 
is  to  be  expected,  in  the  way  of  spiritual  good,  from  the 
labours  of  the  popish  priesthood? 

"  The  religion  of  the  catholic  priest  is  a  religion  of 
forms  ;  it  is  overlaid  with  ritual  and  ceremonial  observ- 
ances, with  various  stated  and  indispensable  matters  of 
sacred  routine  and  forms  of  prayer.  Of  these,  every 
day  brings  its  peculiar  business  and  burden,  its  proper 
addition  to  the  general  mass.  These  occupy  a  large 
portion  of  time.  It  is  true,  they  may  be  slurred  over, 
they  may  be  irreverendly  and  rapidly  disposed  of,  and 
from  the  necessity  of  the  case,  this  often  occurs :  but 
still  they  are  a  wonderful  incumbrance.  They  lie 
heavily  upon  the  man,  whose  armour  should  fit  him 
tight ;  who  should  be  loaded  with  no  unnecessary 
weight,  and  embarrassed  with  no  unwieldy  apparatus, 
when  he  goes  forth  to  the  active  controversy,  and  the 
doubtful  combat  of  both  worlds." 

With  a,fo?''}?ial  protestant  clergy,  and  a  popish  priest- 
hood combined,  do  we  marvel  at  the  state  of  Ireland  ? — 
at  the  abundance  of  crime,  and  violence,  in  a  land  yet 
showing  the  scars  of  civil  war :  poor,  overtithed,  over- 
taxed, and  overrented ;  and  oppressed  with  burdens ; 
drained  by  absentees ;  without  religious  instruction  or 
moral  culture ;  without  industry ;  and  swarming  with 
a  most  improvident,  headlong  population  ?     The  fol- 


UtlSH    ClfAKACTElt.  29 

lowing  powerful  description  occurs  in  the  able  and  in- 
teresting pamphlet  above  cited. 

"  The  Irish  people  can  combine  many  fine  qualities 
of  heart  and  head    with   dissoluteness   and  depravity, 
with  fraud  and  deceit,  with  an  habitual  disregard  for 
trutli,  and  frequent  violation  of  the  sacred  sanction  of 
an   oath.     Their  religion  is  the   observance  of  a  few 
idle  ceremonies,  and  terror  of  the  priest.     Their  alle- 
giance is  terror  of  the  law.     But  they  liave  a  law  and 
a  religion,    which  is  neither  of  the  priest,   nor  of  the 
constitution  :    and  which  restrained  in  its  exercise,  is 
strongly  enough  seated  in  their  hearts,  to  bid  defiance 
to  both.     The  leading  doctrine  of  this  code,  like  that 
of  the  Koran,  is,  that  God  is  good.     That  it  is  right  to 
enjoy  the  good  tilings  of  this  world,  which  he  has  made 
for  the  use  of  all,  and  which  are  the  common  property 
of  mankind;   that  if  prevented  by  arbitrary  laws  and 
regulations,  it  is  right  to  evade  them  ;  that  the  soil  is 
equally  the  patrimony  of  all,  and  belongs  of  right,  if  to 
any,  to  those  only  who  till  it ;  that  property  in  the  crops 
is  acquired  by  those  whose  labour  produces  them ;  that 
the  spontaneous  product  of  the  earth,  which  God  makes 
to  grow   without  cultivation,  as  timber,  is  free  to  all. 
That  temptation,  like  every  thing  else,  is  of  the  ap- 
pointment of  God  ;  that  it  is  natural  to  man  to  yield  to 
it,  and  therefore  he  will  not  punish  him  ;  that  God  is 
not  severe,  but  must  intend  that  they  should  enjoy  what 
he   puts  in   their  way,  and  that   eternal  punishment 
would  be  disproportioned  to  any  offence  that  could  be 
committed  in  this  life.     Nothing  but  the  strong  arm  of 
the  state  restrains  the  deluge  of  calamity,    which  these 
notions  are  calculated  to  let  in  upon   society.     That 
arm,  indeed,  stays  the  mountain-torrent,  but  sufficient 
of  these  wild  waters  find  their  way  into  the  vale  of  so- 
ciety, to  render  all  in  this  region  unsafe  and  uncom- 
-  fortable." 

The  outrages  of  the  Irish  peasantry  in  the  years 
1821  and  1822,  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  abolishing 
tithe,  tax,  and  rent,  read  a  very  forcible  practical  com- 


30  POPF.UY    AND    PROTESTANTISM. 

mentary  upon  the  foregoing  description   of  their  cha- 
racter and  conduct. 

It  is  quite  vain  to  endeavour  to  infuse  into  these 
misguided  people  clearer  notions  of  religious  truth,  of 
moral  obhgation,  and  of  social  order,  by  penal  statutes, 
and  by  martial  law.  These  have  been  sufficiently 
tried,  both  as  to  duration  and  to  severity. 

The  only  remedy  to  be  found  for  the  deep  and  deadly 
evils  of  Ireland  is  to  be  found  in  the  general  circulation 
of  the  Bible,  and  in  the  evangelical  preaching  of  the 
protestant  clergy. 

In  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  the  Irish  protestant  pa- 
rishes were  twenty-five  hundred,  and  their  clergy  nearly 
three  thousand,  out  of  a  population  not  amounting  to 
two  millions.  In  1822,  the  protestant  parishes  were 
eleven  hundred,  and  their  clergy  thirteen  hundred,  out 
of  a  population  reaching  seven  millions.  Then,  the 
papists  were  scarcely  two,  now  they  are  fully  four  to 
one  protestant.  Could  these  terrible  results  have  hap- 
pened, if  the  Irish  national  clergy  had  averaged  a  faith- 
ful discharge  of  their  duties,  as  evangelical  teachers 
and  pastors? 

In  a  pamphlet  on  "  the  state  of  the  nation,  at  the 
commencement  of  the  year  1822,  considered  under  the 
four  departments  of  finance,  foreign  relations,  home 
department,  colonies  and  board  of  trade,"  supposed  to 
be  written  by  one  of  the  cabinet-ministers,  Mr.  Robin- 
son, president  of  the  board  of  trade,  a  sufficiently  de- 
plorable picture  is  drawn  of  the  actual  condition  of 
Ireland.  Some  of  the  evils  which  afflict  that  country, 
namely,  absenteeship,  disproportionate  rents,  defective 
industry,  uneducated  poor,  illicit  distillation,  super- 
abundant population,  want  of  employment,  &c.  are 
enumerated,  and  lamented ;  but  are  also  declared  to  be, 
for  the  most  part,  beyond  the  power  of  the  British 
government  to  remedy,  or  even  to  mitigate. 

In  Mr.  Simpson's  "  Plea  for  Religion  and  the  Sacred 
Writings,"  there  is,  doubtless,  too  much  minute  intem- 
perance of  detail,  and  too  much  desultory  declamation, 


SIMPSON  S    PLEA.  31 

yet  tlie  book  contains  a  vast  body  of  alarming  truth, 
and  sound  remark,  upon  the  prevailing  formalism  and 
general  carelessness  of  the  clergy  of  the  Anglican 
church. 

Whatever  we  may  think  of  the  discretion,  we  can- 
not doubt  the  sincerity  of  a  man,  who,  at  an  advanced 
period  of  life,  resigned  his  Church  preferment,  and  cast 
himself  upon  the  bounty  of  Providence  for  a  morsel  of 
bread,  because  he  could  not  conscientiously  remain  any 
longer  in  the  establishment.  No  real  Christian  can 
forget  his  obligations  to  the  author  of  "  A  Plea  for  the 
Deity  of  Jesus,  and  tlie  Doctrine  of  the  Trinity :"  a 
book  presenting  the  greatest  weight  of  cumulative  evi- 
dence in  favour  of  the  very  foundation  principles  of 
our  most  holy  faith,  that  has  ever  yet  been  brought  to 
bear  upon  religious  subjects. 

I  cannot  refrain  from  citing  a  few  passages  from  his 
"  Plea  for  Religion,"  in  order  to  show  in  what  spirit 
the  good  old  man  wrote  his  valedictory  to  the  Church. 

"  My  judgment  has  not  been  biassed  by  interest,  by 
connexion,  by  inclination,  or  by  any  human  considera- 
tion whatever.  I  have  thought  much  upon  the  sub- 
ject; read  on  both  sides  of  the  question  whatever  has 
fallen  in  my  way ;  conversed  with  various  persons  for 
the  sake  of  information  ;  suffered  the  matter  to  rest 
upon  my  mind  for  some  years  undetermined  ;  have  ne- 
ver made  my  fears,  suspicion  and  dissatisfaction  known 
to  any  man ;  and  when  I  bring  near  to  myself  the 
thought  of  quitting  one  of  the  most  commodious 
Churches  in  the  kingdom,  erected  on  purpose  for  my 
own  ministrations ;  leaving  interred  by  it  many  a  pre- 
cious deposit,  who,  I  trust,  will  be  my  joy  and  crown 
in  the  great  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  besides  a  mother,  a 
wife,  two  children,  and  a  sister:  and  giving  up  va- 
rious kind  friends,  whom  I  love  as  my  own  soul,  toge- 
ther with  a  large  body  of  people,  that,  if  it  were  possi- 
ble, would  have  plucked  out  their  own  eyes,  and  have 
given  them  to  me — what  shall  I  say? 

"  All  that  is  affectionate  within  me  recoils.  I  am 
torn   with  conflicting  passions ;   and  am  ready  to  say 


32  MICAIAH    TOWGOOD. 

with  the  Apostle, — I  could  wish  that  myself  were  ac- 
cursed from  Christ  for  my  friends  and  brethren,  whom 
I  love  in  the  bowels  of  Jesus  Christ. 

*'  But  various  passages  of  Scripture  urge  me,  on  the 
most  momentous  considerations,  to  renounce  a  situa- 
tion which  I  cannot  any  longer  retain  with  peace  of 
mind.  I  bewail  it  exceedingly;  I  have  received  no 
affront ;  conceived  no  disgust ;  formed  no  plans  ;  made 
no  connexions ;  consulted  no  friends ;  experience  no 
weariness  of  the  ministerial  office;  the  ways  of  reli- 
gion are  still  pleasant;  I  have  been  glad  when  duty 
called  me  to  the  house  of  God.  His  word  hath  been 
delightful ;  the  pulpit  has  been  awfully  pleasing ;  the 
table  of  the  Lord  hath  been  the  joy  of  my  heart ;  and 
now,  that  Providence  calleth  me  away,  with  some  de- 
gree of  reluctance,  I  say, — Lord,  here  I  am  ; — do  with 
me  what  seemeth  Thee  good.  Let  me  stay  where  I 
am — I  gladly  stay.  Send  me  where  Thou  wilt.  I 
will  endeavour  to  submit.  Only  go  with  me,  and  Thy 
pleasure  shall  be  mine. 


-"  I  argue  not 


Against  Heaven's  hand  oi'  will,  nor  bate  a  jot 
Of  heart  or  hope  ;   but  still  bear  up,  and  steer 
Right  onward." 

In  the  biographical  notice  prefixed  to  Mr.^  Parsons's 
edition  of  the  "  Plea  for  the  Deity  of  Jesus,"  is  contain- 
ed a  very  interesting  account  of  Mr.  Simpson's  truly 
evangelical  labours  in  the  pulpit  and  in  his  parish ;  as 
an  able  and  eloquent  preacher,  a  learned  and  orthodox 
expounder  of  the  Scriptures,  and  a  faithful,  zealous, 
efficient  pastor.  Seldom,  in  the  history  of  the  Chris- 
tian church,  has  occurred  an  instance  of  a  minister 
more  truly  devoted  to  his  people ;  of  a  people  more  ten- 
derly attached  to  their  minister. 

Perhaps  one  of  the  most  hostile  publications,  on  the 
part  of  the  dissenters  in  England,  vindicating  their  dis- 
sent from  the  national  church,  is  Mr.  Micaiah  Tow- 
good's  book,  entitled  "  A  Dissent  from  the  Church  of 
England  fully  justified,  and  proved  to  be  the  genuine 
and  just  consequence  of  the  allegiance  which  is  due  to 


MESSRS.    BOGUE    AND    BENNET.  3ti 

Jesus  Christ,  the  only  lawgiver  in  the  churcli."  This 
book  has  run  through  several  editions,  and  is  a  favour- 
ite with  non-episcopalians;  but  the  author's  own  Arian- 
ism  materially  dilutes  the  venom,  and  abates  the  force 
of  his  objections  to  the  evangelical  doctrines  of  the 
Anglican  Church. 

The  first  volume  of  Messrs.  Bogue  and  Bennet's 
*'  History  of  Dissenters,"  contains  some  elaborate  argu- 
ments for  general  dissent;  or  dissent  from  all  churches, 
whether  popish  or  protestant ;  whether  episcopalian, 
or  presbyterian,  or  congregational.  The  concluding 
chapter  in  this  volume  offers  reasons  for  particular 
dissent  from  the  church  of  England ;  the  church  and 
dissent  being  personified  as  two  old  women  ;  of  whom 
one  is  made  to  talk  like  a  fool,  and  the  other  like  a  bigot. 
This  chapter  is  neither  conceived  nor  executed  in  the 
best  possible  taste,  as  to  sentiment  or  manner ;  and  is 
calculated  rather  to  retard,  than  to  accelerate  its  pro- 
fessed object. 

It  is,  however,  due  to  these  gentlemen  to  state, 
that  whatever  may  be  their  opinions  respecting  church 
order,  discipline  and  government,  they  are,  invariably, 
staunch  and  able  advocates  for  the  evangelical  doctrines 
of  grace;  the  scriptural  doctrines,  promulgated  by  the 
protestant  reformers. 

In  the  house  of  lords,  during  a  debate  upon  the 
propriety  of  slackening  the  legal  cords,  by  which  the 
dissenting  sects  are  tied  and  bound  in  England,  lord 
Chatham  said,  in  his  own  strong  way,  and  emphatic 
manner — "  we  have  a  popish  liturgy,  a  Calvinistic 
creed,  and  an  Arminian  clergy."  These  expressions 
of  the  elder  Pitt  savour  a  little  of  oratorical  license ; 
and  pass  somewhat  beyond  the  limits  of  plain  matter 
of  fact.  For  the  present,  let  it  suffice  to  observe, 
that  the  American- Anglo-Church  is,  in  no  way,  con- 
nected with  the  state  or  government ;  labours  under 
no  lay-patronage  ;  has  no  system  of  tithes  ;  but  stands 
on  the  same  level  of  political  toleration  and  right, 
with  every  other  religious  denomination  throughout 
the  Union  ;  and,  as  a  church,  professes  to  be  founded 

D 


34  •  EDINBURGH. 

and  built  upon  the  primitive  ground,  marked  out  and 
fenced  in  by  the  great  English  reformers ;  that  is  to 
say,  upon  the  liturgy,  articles  and  homilies  of  the 
Anglican  church. 

How  far  the  American-Anglo-Church  pulpit  ser- 
vices generally  coincide  with  the  evangelical  doctrines 
promulgated  from  the  reading-desk,  and  contained  and 
expounded  in  the  articles  and  homilies,  may  be  the  sub- 
ject of  future  consideration. 

In  my  eighteenth  year,  I  applied  myself  to  the 
study  of  medicine  ;  first  in  the  country,  then  in  Lon- 
don, then  in  Edinburgh,  with  the  characteristic 
ardour  of  a  sanguine  temperament.  In  the  Scottish 
metropolis,  for  its  size,  far  the  most  intellectual  place 
I  ever  knew,  my  mind  was  abundantly  gratified.  In 
the  intervals  of  attendance  on  the  medical  lectures, 
and  visiting  the  Infirmary,  1  listened  to  the  prelec- 
tions of  professor  Dalzell,  the  well  known  compiler 
of  the  "  Collectanea,"  on  Greek  poetry;  and  began 
an  acquaintance  with  metaphysics  and  political  eco- 
nomy. 

It  would  be  worse  than  idle,  to  attempt  even  a 
sketch  of  the  intelligent,  vivacious,  sceptical  state  of 
society  in  Edinburgh^  after  the  full-length  portrait 
given  in  "  Peter's  letters  to  his  kinsfolk ;"  a  work,  so 
far  as  two  years  of  residence  in  that  distinguished  school 
of  instruction  gave  me  an  opportunity  of  judging,  as 
accurate  in  its  details  as  it  is  able  and  interesting,  though 
occasionally  quaint  and  obsolete,  in  its  execution  and 
manner. 

Beyond  all  peradventure,  my  own  religious  im- 
pressions and  opinions  were  considerably  diminished 
and  shaken,  during  my  noviciate  in  tl]e  Scottish  uni- 
versity, where  I  encountered,  either  avowed  infidel- 
ity, or  formal  indifference,  all  around  me,  in  either 
sex,  and  in  every  age ;  and  perused  the  pages  of 
Voltaire,  Rousseau,  Helvetius,  and  other  worthies  of 
the  French  school  of  impiety  and  radicalism,  together 
with  the  works  of  some  of  the  P^nglish  infidels,  from 
lord  Herbert,    of  Cherbury,  who  holds    the  bad  emi- 


ALISON  —  HALYBURTON.  35 

iieiice  of  being  the  reputed  father  of  deism  in  England, 
down  to  Thomas  Paine,  who  is  about  the  most  illiterate 
and  scurrilous  reviler  of  Revelation,  which  the  incubation 
of  heated  politics  upon  blasphemous  insanity  ever  en- 
gendered. 

The  preaching  of  JNIr.  Alison,  the  author  of  a  justly 
celebrated  "  Essay  on  Taste,"  and  of  some  sweet  little 
Sabbatical  effusions,  or  dulcet  discourses,  by  a  singular 
misnomer  called  sermons,  was  not,  at  least  so  long  as  I 
heard  him,  peculiarly  calculated  either  to  dispel  the 
darkness  of  infidelity,  or  to  direct  the  vision  of  the  heart 
to  the  rising  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness,  with  healing 
underneath  his  wings. 

The  most  efficient  refutation  of  the  infidel  writers 
that  I  ever  read,  is  Halyburton's  '•  Inquiry  into  the 
necessity  of  Revelation ;"  a  book  at  once  able,  learn- 
ed and  evangelical.  'J'he  ingenuous  youth,  who  is 
really  seeking  to  find  out  the  truth,  will  be  well  re- 
paid by  a  diligent  study  of  this  little  volume  ;  after 
which  he  may  consult  the  larger  and  more  laborious 
tomes  of  Leland,  on  the  Christian  Revelation  and 
against  the  deistical  writers.  To  those,  who  think 
religion  something  more  than  a  mere  form  of  words, 
and  are  yearning  after  the  power  of  godliness  in  their 
own  hearts,  the  conversion  of  Halyburton,  as  related 
in  his  Memoirs,  will  afford  an  abundant  harvest  of 
instruction  and  delight. 

In  the  course  of  ecclesiastical  studies,  established 
by  the  American  house  of  bishops,  in  the  convention 
of  1804,  in  pursuance  of  a  resolution  of  the  preceding- 
general  convention,  it  is  said,  "  that  it  would  be  best 
for  the  student  to  read  what  the  deists  themselves  have 
written." 

The  benefif^of  studying  infidel  productions  is  ques- 
tionable; the  peril  certain.  A  correspondent  in  the 
Christian  Observer,  for  April  1819,  shows  the  direct 
tendency  of  studying  sceptical  writers  to  bewilder  the 
understanding,  and  corrupt  the  heart.  The  concluding 
sentences  of  this  admirable  paper  are  replete  with  sound 
sense  and  true  piety. 

D  2 


36  STUDY    OF    SCEPTICAL    VnilTERS. 

*'  If  an  inquiry  should  be  made  for  a  safer  and  more 
certain  course,  (than  the  study  of  sceptical  writers,)  the 
Christian  might  well  be  exhorted  to  furnish  himself 
with  a  rational  conviction  of  his  faith  ;  and  to  that  end 
he  might  be  urged  to  study,  with  a  simple,  serious  and 
impartial  mind,  some  of  those  worthies  of  our  cause, 
who  have  summed  up,  with  unanswerable  precision,  the 
evidences  which  establish  the  divinity  of  cur  religion  ; 
not  forgetting,  however,  that  the  Scripture  is  its  own 
best  evidence ;  and  that,  where  devoutly  studied  with 
humble  and  earnest  prayer  to  God,  irresistible  marks 
of  divinity  will  appear  in  its  hallowed  pages.  For 
prayer  is  the  key,  as  well  to  a  correct  faith,  as  to  a  holy 
life." 

"  When  once  true  religion  is  planted  within  us, 
prayer  must  fence  it  round,  and  protect  it  from  the 
storm.  From  that  period,  the  foundation  once  laid, 
the  Christian  will  find  his  time  more  profitably  occu- 
pied in  learning  to  love  and  glorify  his  Saviour,  than 
in  labouring  to  protest,  with  historical  accuracy,  against 
the  fallacy  of  errors,  which  are  sometimes  kept  alive 
and  in  repute,  like  popular  criminals,  by  the  very 
intemperance  with  which  they  are  attacked.  The 
Bible,  that  common  centre,  round  which  all  disputants 
affect  to  move,  and  to  which  they  all  refer,  will  teach 
us  the  insignificance  of  many  minute  disGi^epancies,  which 
would  be  perfectly  undeserving  of  notice,  if  they  did 
not  frequently  cause  an  alienation  of  the  heart,  far 
wider  than  the  petty  difference  of  the  mind  ;  and  as  to 
the  more  important  and  vital  principles  of  our  faith, 
let  us  provide  ourselves  with  the  consoling  reflection, 
dwelt  upon  by  the  learned  and  pious  bishop  of  St.  Da- 
vid's, (Dr.  Burgess,)  '  that  having  once  convinced  our- 
selves of  the  truth  of  Christianity,  it  is  childish  to  dis- 
cuss it^  falsity ;  having  once  satisfied  ourselves  as  to  the 
positive,  it  is  downright  absurdity  to  try  the  plausibility 
of  the  negative.'' " 

Indeed,  there  is  no  medium  between  receiving  the 
Holy  Scriptures  as  the  entire  Word  of  God,  believing 
their  declarations,  obeying  their  precepts  ;    and  launch- 


MEDICAL    FACULTY.  37 

iug;,  at  once,  into  the  dark  deep  of  infidelity,  without 
rudder  to  steer,  without  compass  to  guide,  without 
chart  to  direct,  without  beacon  to  warn,  without  star 
to  light  us  on  our  course. 

On  my  return  to  London  from  Edinburgh,  I  soon 
relinquished  all  thoughts  of  the  practice  of  a  pro- 
fession, which  is,  of  necessity,  condemned  to  be  per- 
petually raking  into  the  very  kennels  of  human  in- 
firmity. With  the  study  of  anatomy,  physiology,  sur- 
gery and  medicine,  both  in  England  and  Scotland,  I 
was  delighted ;  but  I  shrunk  from  the  practice  of 
either  branch  of  the  Esculapian  calling. 

Not  that  T  would,  for  a  moment,  be  understood  to 
depreciate  the  practical  part  of  a  vocation,  to  the 
science  and  skill  of  whose  professors  the  human  race 
owes  so  much  ;  to  whom  so  many  myriads  are  indebted 
for  ease  from  agony,  for  rescue  from  the  jaws  of  death, 
for  the  enjoyment  and  activity  of  prolonged  and  useful 
existence.  It  would  not  be  easy,  in  the  history  of  the 
world,  to  find  a  body  of  men,  to  whom  science  and 
learning  generally,  in  addition  to  the  particular  labours 
of  their  own  professional  department,  are  more  largely 
indebted  than  to  the  congregated  hosts  of  the  medical 
faculty.  Lord  Chatham  used  to  say,  that  he  gathered 
more  instruction  from  Dr.  Freind  than  from  any  other 
of  his  acquaintance. 

As  soon  as  I  had  determined  not  to  enter  upon  the 
practice  of  physic,  in  any  of  its  branches,  I  enrolled 
myself  a  member  of  the  Honourable  Society  of  the 
Inner  Temple,  and  placed  myself  in  the  office  of  Mr. 
Chitty,  the  well  known  author  of  various  law-books, 
on  "  Bills  of  Exchange  ;"— "  Pleading ;" — "  Criminal 
Law,"  &c.  and  reputed  to  be,  at  least,  among  the  first, 
if  not  the  first,  of  the  special  pleaders  in  Westminster 
Hall.  During  two  years  of  pupillage  under  this  gen- 
tleman, 1  cultivated  the  melancholy  science  of  special 
pleading. 

But  before  I  was  called  to  the  English  bar,  I  suf- 
fered myself  to  be  persuaded,  partly  by  solitary  read- 
ing, partly  by   my  own  crude  cogitations,  and  partly 


38  UNITED    STATES    AND    BRITAIN. 

by  the  opinions  and  arguments  of  others,  elder,  and, 
as  I  then  supposed,  wiser  and  more  experienced  than 
myself,  that  Britain  was  too  feudal  in  her  institutions, 
too  aristocratic  in  her  social  forms,  for  the  welfare  and 
happiness  of  her  people ;  and  that  the  United  States 
of  America,  having  cast  off  the  slough  of  hereditary 
government,  rank  and  property,  opened  an  inexhaus- 
tible region  for  the  developement  of  talents ;  the  im- 
provement of  science,  learning,  and  art,  in  all  their 
various  branches ;  and  the  advancement  of  political 
freedom,  prosperity  and  beatitude. 

Full  of  these  preconceived  notions,  I  came  to  the 
United  States  in  the  spring  of  1806,  in  order  to  see 
with  my  own  eyes,  this  new  Atalantis,  with  all  its  fe- 
licitous results  of  a  government,  unique  in  the  history  of 
man ;  a  democracy,  purely  elective  and  representative. 
The  deliberate  opinions  of  my  riper  years,  in  relation 
to  the  two  countries,  are  before  the  world,  in  "  The 
Resources  of  the  British  Empire,"  and  "  The  Re- 
sources of  America," 

May  I  hope  to  escape  the  imputation  of  egotism,  if 
I  say  a  few  words  respecting  the  latter  work?  In 
these  United  States  it  was  abused,  as  vilifying  Ame- 
rica, in  order  to  exalt  Britain.  In  England,  the  Re- 
viewers stigmatized  me  as  "  an  enthusiast  for  the  glory 
of  the  United  States,"  which,  they  said,  "  I  founded 
on  the  ruin  and  depression  of  England." 

Now,  both  these  contradictory  accusations  cannot 
be  correct ;  and  is  it  not  a  fair  inference,  that  the 
truth  has  been  impartially  spoken  of  both  countries; 
and  that  the  bigoted  partisans  of  both,  blinded  by 
their  own  malevolence  and  prejudices,  have,  in  this 
instance,  as  they  usually  do  in  other  cases,  mistaken 
an  unnatural  hatred  of  another  country  for  a  proof  of 
pure  and  patriotic  devotedness  to  their  own ;  and 
merely  exhibited  a  picture  of  their  own  moral  defor- 
mity, alike  alien  from  every  expression  of  reason,  truth, 
and  justice  ?  When  Voltaire  abused  all  mankind, 
as  being  villains,  he,  at  least,  proved  himself  to  be  no 
saint. 


CHllISTIAN    OBSERVER.  39 

111  Germany,  where  a  professor  at  Weimar  has  trans- 
lated the  book  into  his  own  vernacular,  it  has  escaped 
this  cross  fire  of  political  partisanship.  Never  waste 
your  breath  for  one  moment,  says  Lavater,  upon  bigots, 
either  in  politics  or  in  religion ;  for  of  all  sinners  they 
are  the  most  incorrigible. 

To  those  great  doctors  of  philosophy,  whether  po- 
litical or  religious,  who,  invariably,  content  themselves 
with  only  a  one-sided  view  of  every  subject  presented 
to  their  deliberate  consideration,  I  would  recommend 
the  following  sentences  in  the  preface  to  the  first  volume 
of  the  Christian  Observer. 

"  We  conceived  that  a  spirit  of  forbearance  and 
Christian  charity  was  perfectly  consistent  wdth  the 
strictest  orthodoxy,  and  we  indulged  a  sanguine  hope, 
that  Christians,  in  general,  would  concur  in  this  senti- 
ment. Our  expectations  have  been  disappointed.  Some 
of  our  correspondents  have  complained  of  our  mani- 
festing too  great  mildness  and  conciliation  towards 
dissenters  and  separatists ;  interpreting  a  language 
without  bitterness  into  blameable  partiality  ;  and  mis- 
construing our  reluctance  to  irritate,  and  to  give  need- 
less offence,  into  want  of  zeal,  or  defect  of  courage. 
On  the  other  side,  some  dissenters  have  charged  us 
with  being  bigoted,  persecuting  Churchmen,  and  have 
not  only  treated  us  as  adversaries  of  the  dissenting  in- 
terest, but  as  the  enemies  of  Christianity  itself. 

"  Our  religious  principles  have  been  no  less  the 
subject  of  contradictory  animadversion.  Ey  rigid  Cal- 
vinists  we  have  been  branded  as  Arminians;  while,  by 
many  Arminians,  we  are  classed  with  the  disciples  of 
Calvin.  The  cold  and  formal  professor  of  Christianity 
stigmatizes  our  doctrines  as  cant  and  Methodism  ; 
while  the  heated  enthusiast  denies  that  spirituality,  or 
evangelical  truth,  can  be  traced  in  our  pages.  It  is, 
certainly,  favourable  to  our  cause,  that  the  charges 
against  us  arc  so  discordant  and  contradictory,  as  to 
require  no  distinct  refutation  ;  and  we  are  encouraged 
by  the  very  circumstance  of  our  having  offended  the 


40  llEV.    Dli.    MASON. 

angry  and  intolerant  of  tliese  different  parties,  to  hope, 
that  we  have  succeeded  in  finding  that  due  medium, 
which  is  equally  remote  from  bigotry  and  the  latitudi- 
narian  spirit." 

To  the  United  States  I  brought  a  mind  bewildered 
amidst  the  mazes  of  metaphysical  speculation,  per- 
plexed in  the  labyrinth  of  sceptical  sophistry,  and  en- 
tangled in  the  too  eager  pursuit  of  a  political  millenium. 
-But  a  few  years  of  sojourning  in  this  multitudinous 
democracy  ;  a  closer  inspection  of  the  realities  of  life  ; 
aided  by  solitary  reflection,  and  the  resumption  of  those 
scriptural  studies,  which  had  been  too  long  intermitted 
during  my  medical  and  legal  noviciates,  reillumined 
veteris  vestigia  flammce\  fanned  the  dying  embers  of  a 
former  flame ;  and  caused  the  heart  to  return  once 
more  unto  its  rest. 

When  a  few  years  of  actual  experience  had  com- 
pelled me  to  know,  that  human  life,  even  under  the 
favourable  circumstances  of  youth,  and  health,  and  in- 
tellectual occupation,  was  full  of  disappointment,  and 
vanity,  and  vexation,  my  soul  was  led,  once  again,  to 
look  upward,  and  say  to  Jehovah,  "  whom  have  I  in 
heaven  but  Thee?"  The  alternations  of  hope  and 
fear,  the  gleamings  of  ambition,  and  the  clouds  of 
doubt ;  the  constant  goadings  of  the  natural  mind,  and 
the  occasional  yet  terrible  strivings  of  the  spirit ;  the 
war  of  nature,  and  the  conflicts  of  the  heart,  strug- 
gling between  the  instinctive  incitements  to  a  mere 
worldly  career  of  secular  pursuit,  and  the  frequent 
warnings  to  lay  hold  upon  the  horns  of  the  Altar,  and 
obtain  a  personal  interest  in  the  all-sufficient  sacrifice ; 
all  tended,  under  the  good  Providence  of  God,  to 
demonstrate  the  entire  nothingness  of  every  earthly  vo- 
cation and  object,  in  comparison  with  an  inquiry  after 
the  one  thing  needful ;  and  to  show  forth  the  corrup- 
tion, the  folly,  the  weakness,  the  depravity  of  "  that 
hideous  sight,  a  naked  human  heart." 

I  had  become  acquainted,  while  a  medical  student 
in  Edinburgh,  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Mason,  who  was 
then,  in   the  winter  of  1800—1801,  on  a  visit  from 


IIEV.    DR.    MASON.  41 

New- York  to  Scotland,  in  search  of  some  seceding 
ministers,  wherewith  to  build  up  in  greater  strength, 
liis  own  ecclesiastical  body,  the  Associate  Reformed. 
Church  in  the  United  States.  I  was  prodigiously 
struck  with  the  force  and  vigour,  and  range  of  intel- 
lect exhibited  in  his  conversation  ;  and  with  the  pre- 
cipitation of  heedless  youth,  thence  drew  a  conclu- 
sion, not  altogether  verified  by  subsequent  experi- 
ence ;  namely,  if  this  be  a  fair  average  specimen  of 
American  clergy,  what  must  be  her  lawyers,  her 
statesmen,  her  men  of  letters,  her  philosophers  ? 

But  the  truth  is,  my  premises  were  naught.  No 
country  ever  did,  or  ever  can,  average  such  an  amount 
of  clerical,  or  of  any  other  talent. 

On  my  arrival  in  New- York,  in  July  1806,  we  re- 
newed our  acquaintance,  which  soon  ripened  into  an 
intimacy  truly  fraternal,  that  lasted  about  six  years  ; 
when  it  was  broken  up,  and  for  ever  scattered  to  the 
wild  winds,  by  the  systematic  sycophancy  and  inces- 
sant intrigue  of  a  very  reverend  brother. 

During  six  years  I  sat  under  the  ministry  of  Dr. 
Mason  ;  and  it  is  but  justice  to  say  of  this  profound 
divine,  and  powerful  polemic,  that  while  the  better 
days  of  his  intellectual  strength  continued  to  shine  in 
all  their  unclouded  splendour,  I  never  heard  a  greater 
preacher ;  and  yet  I  have  listened  to  some  of  the 
most  eminent  men  in  the  Anglican  church,  including 
the  mighty  Horsley  himself.  As  an  expositor  of 
the  Sacred  Volume,  I  never  heard  JMason's  equal ; 
and  his  single  sermons  upon  detached  texts,  were, 
when  he  w^as  fully  roused  to  the  requisite  pitch  of 
mental  exertion,  surpassed  by  none  that  I  ever  heard 
or  read. 

Like  all  extempore  preachers,  his  pulpit  services 
varied  in  mental  power  and  value,  according  to  the 
degree  of  preparation,  the  state  of  health,  the  tem- 
perature of  the  spirits,  the  standard  of  excitement. 
But  even  in  his  most  ordinary  efforts,  his  un])remedi- 
tated  effusions,  the  thewes  and  sinews,  the  bones  and 
dimensions  of  a  giant  were  visible  ; — disjecti   membra 


42  REV.    Dll.    CHALMERS. 

gigantis.  He  was  coinpletely  master  of  his  own  theo- 
logical system,  that  of  full-blooded  Calvinism,  or 
Supralapsarianism  ;  in  the  warfare  of  which,  both 
offensive  and  defensive,  he  proved  himself  a  most 
pointed  and  powerful  writer. 

The  very  few  sermons  which  he  has  published,  his 
Letters  on  frequent  Communion,  his  Voice  of  Warn- 
ing, his  Oration  on  the  death  of  Hamilton,  some 
splendid  fragments  in  the  Christian's  Magazine,  and 
his  noble  Plea  for  Catholic  Communion,  all,  in  very 
deed.  Scriptural,  able,  eloquent,  are,  1  believe,  the 
only  scanty  remains  of  a  truly  evangelical  divine,  who 
might,  if  his  industry,  perseverance  and  energy  had 
been  commensurate  with  his  genius,  talents  and  elo- 
quence, have  brightened  the  remotest  recesses  of 
Christendom  with  the  blaze  of  his  intellectual  glory ; 
might  have  been,  what  Chalmers  is. 

When  the  breach  between  Dr.  Mason  and  myself 
had  been  rendered  sufficiently  deep  and  deadly  to 
admit  of  no  possible  cure  on  this  side  of  the  grave,  I 
returned  into  the  bosom  of  that  mother-church,  which 
had  nourished  me,  and  my  brethren,  and  my  father, 
and  my  father's  fathers  for  many  preceding  genera- 
tions. 

It  is  my  wish,  not  to  be  understood  as  in  any  way 
designing  to  reflect  upon  the  study  or  the  practice 
of  the  law,  by  occasionally  escaping  from  the  toil  and 
dust,  and  litigation  of  the  forum,  into  the  city  of  re- 
fuge. I  have,  elsewhere,  undertaken  to  show,  in 
opposition  to  very  high  authority,  that  the  study  of 
law,  properly  directed,  invigorates,  sharpens,  ex- 
pands and  elevates  the  nobler  faculties  of  the  mind; 
and  have  borne  testimony  to  the  vast  aggregate  of 
talent,  learning  and  efficiency,  which  at  once  support 
and  adorn  the  American  bar,  throughout  the  various 
states  in  the  Union  ;  and  have  the  honour  of  a  per- 
sonal acquaintance  with  some  of  the  distinguished 
ornaments  of  the  New- York  bench  and  bar,  who,  in 
forensic  power,  in  public  estimation,  in  private  worth, 
need  not  turn  their  backs  to  any  jurists,  ancient  or 


AMERICAN    LAWYERS.  43 

mocleni  ;  no,  not  even  in  the  best  clays,  the  high  and 
pahny  state  of  England,  Rome  or  Greece. 

But  the  heart,  when  once  effectually  led  to  direct  its 
gaze  towards  the  eternal  world,  is  like  an  animal  that  has 
tasted  the  blood  of  its  prey,  and  can  no  longer  be  re- 
strained. To  a  soul,  thoroughly  impressed  with  the 
importance  of  sacred  truth,  the  wealth  of  Ormus  and  of 
Ind,  the  dominion  of  the  Cesars,  the  fascinations  of  the 
entire  world  ;  are  all  as  nothing,  and  less  than  nothing, 
in  comparison  of  the  yearning  of  the  •  heart  to  escape 
from  the  jaws  of  that  second  death,  which  are,  for  ever, 
yawning  wide  to  receive  the  unrepentant,  unregenerate, 
unconverted  myriads  of  mankind. 


CHAPTER  I. 

On  the  Anglican  Church  Establishment. 

In  the  year  1821,  the  Rev.  S.  C.  Wilks  published  a 
work,  entitled,  "Correlative  claims  and  duties;  or, 
an  Essay  on  the  necessity  of  a  church  establishment 
in  a  Christian  country,  for  the  preservation  of  Chris- 
tianity among  the  people  of  all  ranks  and  denomina- 
tions." 

This  work  is  written  with  great  ability  and  can- 
dour ;  and  a  strain  of  genuine  piety  pervades  all 
its  pages.  The  remarks  and  exhortations,  as  to  the 
means  of  exciting  and  maintaining  among  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Anglican  Church,  a  spirit  of  devotion,  to- 
gether with  zeal  for  the  honour,  stability,  and  influ- 
ence of  the  establishment,  are  beyond  praise.  To 
this  book  the  Society  for  promoting  Christian  know- 
ledge and  church  union  in  the  diocese  of  St.  David's, 
adjudged  a  premium  of  £50,  in  December  1820. 

The  main  position  taken  and  enforced  by  Mr. 
Wilks,  is, — that  where  there  is  no  church  establish- 
ment, a  nation  necessarily  tends  to  irreligion  and  hea- 
thenism. 

In  this  opinion  Mr,  Wilks  is  not  singular.  Dr. 
Chalmers  maintains  a  similar  notion  in  his  "Chris- 
tian and  civic  economy  of  large  towns  ;"  and  the 
same  track  is  beaten  by  the  British  and  Quarterly 
Reviewers ;  together  with  many  other  most  respect- 
able and  able  writers  in  England. 

An  inquiry,  however  brief  and  cursory,  into  the 
soundness  of  this  position,  may  be  deemed  of  some 
moment  in  these  United  States,  where  no  church  es- 
tablishment can  be  instituted,  without  violating  an 
express  provision  in  the  federal  or   national  compact, 


CHURCH    ESTABLISHMENT.  4.5 

wliich  binds  together  the  whole  union.  For  if  this 
doctrine  be  sound,  America  has  reason  to  apprehend 
the  most  portentous  national  evils,  in  consequence  of 
not  having  linked  the  civil  government  and  some  one 
dominant  Christian  sect  in  the  bonds  of  inseparable 
alliance. 

If  this  position  be  correct,  how  did  Christianity  gain 
ground,  and  maintain  itself,  during  the  first  three  cen- 
turies of  its  rise  and  progress ; — not  only  without, 
but  in  direct  opposition  to  the  po^ver  and  force  of  the 
state?  In  the  fourth  century,  Constantino,  a  mere 
politician,  was  some  time  balancing  in  his  own  mind, 
whether  he  should  establish  Paganism  or  Christianity 
as  tlie  state  religion  ;  and  finally  determined  in  favour 
of  Christianity,  because  he  thought  it,  on  the  whole,  at 
that  time,  to  be  the  stronger  of  the  two  rival  candidates 
for  imperial  favour. 

Many  able  and  pious  writers,  besides  JNIr.  Wilks, 
have  entered  the  lists  on  both  sides,  in  support  arid 
in  reprobation  of  the  civil  establishment  of  Chris- 
tianity. Its  defenders  hail  the  secular  government  as 
the  stanch  champion  of  the  church;  while  its  impugners, 
seeing  the  church,  from  that  day  in  which  Constantino 
wedded  it  to  the  state,  amalgamated  with  the  w'orld, 
have  represented  this  politico-clerical  alliance  as  tending 
directly  to  stifle  evangelical  piety  amidst  the  fire,  and 
smoke,  and  darkness  of  intolerance,  persecution,  and 
formalism. 

A  brief  outline  of  the  leading  historicnl  facts  of 
national  churches,  particularly  the  Greek,  the  Latin, 
the  English,  the  Irish,  and  the  Scottish,  under  every 
various  form  and  mode  of  civil  government,  would,  pro- 
bably, supersede  the  necessity  of  any  abstract  discussion 
upon  this  point. 

Dr.  Burgess,  bishop  of  St.  David's,  in  his  Letter  tw 
Mr.  Wix,  cites  the  following  observations  from  Dr. 
Hickes's  apologetical  vindication  of  the  church  of  Eng- 
land ;  in  which  the  sum  and  substance  seem  to  be, 
that  the  protestant  rulers  of  England  have  intruded 
their    secular    arm    into    the    ecclesiastical    establish- 


46  CONSTANTINE. 

ment,  somewhat  more  sparingly  than  popish  sovereigns 
have  been  wont.  But  this  is  no  conclusive  proof,  that 
either  popish  or  protestant  governments  ought  to  cement 
themselves  with,  and  direct  the  movements  of  any  por- 
tion of  the  Christian  Church. 

Dr.  Hickes  says — "  the  gentlemen  of  the  Roman 
communion  are  so  apt  to  miscal  our  church  a  parlia- 
ment church,  and  our  religion  a  parliament  religion, 
because  our  laws  confirm  and  establish  the  doctrine 
and  sanctions  of  the  Church  of  England.  But  let 
them  know,  as  bishop  Jewel  saith,  that  we  hold  not 
God's  eternal  truths  by  parliament,  but  by  God  ;  par- 
liaments being  uncertain,  and  often  contrary,  but  God's 
truth  is  one,  certain,  and  never  changeth.  However, 
we  are  thankful  to  God,  and  religious  kings  and  par- 
liaments, when  they  give  legal  establishments  to  the 
truth  ;  as  the  imperial  laws  and  edicts  did  to  the  decrees 
of  the  general  councils;  particularly,  as  Constantine, 
who  sate  in  the  Nicene  council,  confirmed  the  Nicene 
creed,  and  all  other  things  ordained  by  that  council, 
when  he  was  but  a  catechumen,  or  learner  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion. 

"  He  called  himself  rwv  a^io  l>i(T/co7roc,  the  external 
bishop  of  the  church  ;  and  after  his  death,  the  fa- 
thers surnamed  him  I<yo7rccrToAoc,  equal  to  the  apostles ; 
and  the  Novels  of  Justinian,  the  Nomocanons,  and 
Basiliks,  the  Capitularia  of  the  old  French,  and  the 
laws  of  the  ancient  Saxon  kings,  show,  that  religious 
princes  have  always  thought  it  their  duty  to  defend  the 
faith  and  rights  of  the  church,  and  by  wholesome  laws 
establish  its  peace  and  good  order.  King  Canute, 
in  parliament,  made  laws  concerning  the  faith,  about 
keeping  of  holydays,  public  prayers,  learning  the  Lord's 
prayer,  receiving  the  eucharist  thrice  a  year,  the 
form  of  baptism,  fasting  days,  and  other  such  matters 
of  religion ;  and  the  popish  religion  owes  its  es- 
tablishment in  all  popish  countries  to  acts  of  sovereign 
princes  and  states;  without  which  it  would  not  long 
subsist. 


TARLIAMENT    CHURCH.  47 

"  Therefore,  saith  bishop  Jewel  to  Harding,  as  you 
now  call  the  truth  of  God  we  profess,  a  parliament  re- 
ligion, and  a  parliament  Gospel;  even  so,  with  like 
sobriety  and  gravity  of  speech,  ye  might  say,  our  fa- 
thers in  old  times,  had  a  parliament  Christ ;  and  your 
fathers  and  brethren  had  of  late,  in  time  of  queen 
JMary,  a  parliament  faith,  a  parliament  mass,  and  a 
parliament  pope. 

"  I  have  often  wondered  at  the  papists  calling  ours 
a  parliament  church,  and  a  parliament  religion,  while 
they  endeavour,  every  where,  to  proselyte  kings  and 
kingdoms,  and  have  their  religion  established  by  law. 
AVith  what  reason  or  modesty  then,  can  they  thus  in- 
sult our  church  and  religion,  or  our  kings  and  parlia- 
ments, since  the  Reformation,  for  meddling  too  much 
with  church  aifairs  and  matters  of  religion ;  in  which, 
if  any  of  them  have  gone  beyond  just  bounds,  they 
have  but  copied  some  of  our  popish  kings  ? 

"  William  the  first,  who  established  popery  in  Eng- 
land, ordained  that  none  of  his  people  should  own 
any  bishop  of  Rome  for  pope,  but  by  his  order ;  or  in 
any  manner  obey  him,  before  his  letters  were  shown 
to  the  king ;  that  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  pri- 
mate of  his  kingdom,  presiding  in  a  general  council 
of  bishops,  should  neither  enact  nor  prohibit  aught  but 
what  he  approved  and  ordained ;  and  that  none  of  his 
bishops  should,  without  his  command,  cite  into  his 
court,  or  excommunicate,  or  otherwise  censure,  any  of 
his  barons  or  ministers,  thougli  for  incest,  or  adultery, 
or  any  other  capital  sin.  Cuncta  ergo,  divina  et  hii- 
mana  ejus  nutum  expcctahant ;  all  things,  in  religion 
and  state,  were  at  his  beck ;  who  violated  the  rights 
and  liberties  of  the  church,  as  of  the  people ;  making 
the  bishops  first  do  homage  to  him,  and  then  giving 
them  investiture  into  their  sees  by  delivering  the  pas- 
toral staff. 

"  These  and  other  such  examples  Henry  the  eighth 
followed  in  procuring  some  exorbitant  acts  of  par- 
liament, to  the  prejudice  of  the  church ;  particularly 
those  of  his  supremacy,  the  submission  of  the  clergy. 


48  POPISH    ESTABLISHMENT. 

the  electing  a  bishop  and  archbishop,  nominated  in 
the  letter  missive;  (a  practice  still  continued  under 
the  statute  of  Henry,  though  condemned  by  that  of 
the  sixth  Edward ;)  on  account  of  which,  and  the 
exercise  of  the  Regale,  according  to  those  acts,  by  the 
English  princes  since  the  Reformation,  the  papists 
upbraid  us  with  the  hardships  tJiei?^  kings  and  bishops 
have  brought  upon  us ;  despising,  and  teaching  others 
to  despise  our  church  and  religion,  as  a  parliament 
church,  and  a  parliament  religion ;  because  we  sub- 
mit to  a  yoke  which  we  cannot  shake  off;  a  yoke, 
which  galled  their  necks  before  us ;  a  yoke  of  a  popish 
king  and  parliament's  making ;  and  yet  not  heavier 
than  what  their  church  and  sacerdotal  colleges  wear 
in  several  dominions  ;  not  to  mention  one,  more  heavy 
and  grievous,  which  the  supremacy  of  the  Apostle, 
as  they  have  long  called  the  pope,  hath  put  upon  their 
necks.  ' 

"  I  desire  the  reader,"  adds  bishop  Burgess,  "  to 
take  notice,  that  of  twenty-nine  or  thirty  schisms  in 
the  church  of  Rome,  etc.  etc.,  and  if  it  were  requisite 
to  say  more  of  the  Roman  schisms  and  differences,  I 
could  add  another  account  of  anticardinals  and  anti- 
councils,  to  this  one  of  the  antipopcs." 

The  apology  for  the  conduct  of  Henry  the  eighth, 
offered  by  bishop  Burnet,  somewhat  resembles  the 
reasoning  of  Dr.  Hickes.  In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Ausont, 
dated  Paris,  10th  of  August,  1685,  printed  towards 
the  close  of  the  third  volume  of  his  "  History  of  the 
reformation  of  the  church  of  England,"  the  bishop 
says — "  the  reformation  is  not  at  all  to  be  charged 
with  king  Henry's  faults;  for  that  unsteady  favour 
and  protection  which  they  sometimes  found  from  him, 
can  no  more  blemish  them,  than  the  vices  of  those 
princes,  the  great  promoters  of  Christianity,  cast  a 
blemish  on  the  Christian  religion.  Let  the  crimes 
of  Clovis,  as  related  by  Gregory  of  Tours,  be  com- 
pared with  the  worst  things  of  Henry ;  and  then  let 
any  man  see  if  he  find  so  much  falsehood,  mixed  with 
so   much    cruelty,   in    so  many   repeated   acts^,   for  so 


PRESENT    CHTTRCII    ESTABLISHMENT.  49 

many  vcars,  in  Henry,  as  in  Clovis.  Nor  do  we  see 
any  hints  of  Clovis's  repentance,  or  rcstitntion  to  the 
right  heirs  of  those  dominions,  that  he  had  seized  on 
in%o  criminal  a  manner.  And  this  was  the  first  Chris- 
tian king  of  the  Franks." 

That  the  Anglican  church  is,  at  this  present  hour, 
most  closely  welded  to  the  state,  appears  from  the 
open  avowal  of  all  parties  in  the  house  of  commons, 
during  a  recent  debate,  that  the  church  is  part  of 
the  state,  and  the  state  part  of  the  church. 

On  the  26th  of  January,  1821,  in  discussing  the 
propriety  of  inserting  in  the  hturgy  the  name  of  the 
late  Queen  of  England,  Mr.  Wetherell,  one  of  the 
opposition  members,  said,  that  prior  to  the  Reforma- 
tion the  liturgy  of  England  had  been  regulated  by 
the  pope;  but  when  ^Henry  the  eighth  separated 
from  the  Roman  see,  the  church  discipline  and  its 
regulations  were  placed  under  the  superintendence  of 
the  same  power  as  were  the  civil  rights  of  England.  In 
the  reign  of  Edward  the  sixth  the  liturgy  was  esta- 
bhshed;  and  in  successive  reigns,  the  church  became 
part  of  the  state,  as  the  state  became  part  of  the 
church.  Such  was  the  political  effect  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. The  reign  of  Mary  produced  a  revulsion,  which, 
however,  was  removed  under  her  immediate  suc- 
cessors. In  the  reign  of  James  the  first,  the  liturgy 
was  established  in  nearly  the  same  form  as  at  present. 
Under  the  first  Charles  raged  war,  civil  and  religious. 
After  the  accession  of  Charles  the  second,  the  act  of 
uniformity  was  sanctioned  by  the  legislature. 

Mr.  Wetherell  proceeded  to  argue^,  that  plenary 
power  existed  in  the  king  and  parliament  united,  to 
regulate  the  discipline  of  the  church. 

Whereupon  Dr.  Dodson,  a  civilian,  on  the  crown 
or  ministerial  side  of  the  house,  rose  to  show,  that  this 
power  resided  in  the  king  alone.  He  said  tliat  the 
king  had,  by  law,  the  same  power,  as  to  altering  the 
liturgy,  or  common  prayer,  as  the  pope  possessed  and 
exercised  previous  to  the  Reformation.  Henry  the 
eighth  made  alterations  in  the  liturgy,  of  his  own  m- 


5Q  LATE    QUEEN    AMD    LITURGY. 

thorit)',  without  consulting  either  tlie  lords  or  com- 
mons. And  such  was  the  admitted  power,  and  the 
constant  practice  of  Henry's  successors  ;  as  appeared 
from  the  conduct  of  Edward  and  of  Elizahetli,  and 
of  subsequent  sovereigns. 

No  provision  in  the  act  of  uniformity  took  away  the 
power  of  the  king  to  alter  the  common  prayer.  In- 
deed, that  act  was  intended  to  confirm  the  power  of 
the  crown,  with  respect  to  the  liturgy  ;  and  its  very 
terms  show-,  that  the  power  of  the  crown,  upon  this 
subject,  existed  previous  to  its  enactment.  If  the 
king  does  not  possess  the  power  of  altering  the  com- 
mon prayer,  how  came  it  to  pass  that  so  many  new 
prayers  have  been  occasionally  framed  and  promul- 
gated by  orde/  of  the  king  in  council,  upon  particular 
events  ? 

Thus  all  parties  agree,  that  the  church  of  England 
has  a  supreme  secular  head,  vested  with  full  papal 
power  over  its  external  discipline  and  form  of  wor- 
ship ;  either  in  the  king  himself  alone,  or  in  the  tlireo 
branches  of  the  legislature,  king,  lords  and  commons 
united  :  neither  of  which  serious  Christians  can  be 
brought  to  believe  an  adequate  substitute  for  the 
Redeemer  himself;  the  Divine  author,  founder,  pre- 
server and  governor  of  his  own  church. 

To  those  who  are  enamoured  of  such  an  alliance 
between  church  and  state,  as  constitutes  a  national 
establishment  of  one  religious  communion,  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  every  other,  are  recommended  the  follow- 
ing facts,  related  by  bishop  Burnet,  in  his  history  of 
his  o\^^l  time  ;  to  show  iichat  sort  of  religion  secular 
governments  are  apt  to  entertain,  for  the  direction  of 
their  own  conduct,  and  for  the  guidance  of  their 
people. 

The  bishop  says,  that  Fabricius,  the  wisest  divine 
he  knew  in  Germany,  told  him  some  particulars  which 
he  had  from  Charles  Lewis  the  elector  palatine's 
own  mouth  ;  namely,  that  Frederic  the  second,  who 
first  reformed  the  })alatinate,  resolved  to  shake  off 
popery,  and  set  up  Lutheranism  in  his  country ;  but 


GOVERNMENT    KEEIGION.  51 

one  of  his  counsellors  said  that  the  Lutherans  would 
always  depend  chiefly  on  the  house  of  Saxony ; 
whence  it  would  not  become  him,  the  jirsi  elector,  to 
be  only  the  second  in  the  party  ;  it  was  more  for  his 
dignity  to  become  a  Calvinist,  as  he  would  be  the 
head  of  that  party,  and  have  a  great  influence  in 
Switzerland,  and  make  the  Huguenots  of  France  and 
in  the  Netherlands  depend  on  him. 

This  determined  him  to  declare  for  the  Helvetic 
confession  ;  but  upon  the  ruin  of  his  family,  the  duke 
of  New-burgh  had  an  interview  with  the  elector  of 
Brandenburgh,  about  their  concerns  in  Juliers  and 
Cleves,  and  persuaded  the  elector  to  turn  Calvinist ; 
for,  since  their  family  was  fallen,  nothing  would  more 
contribute  to  raise  the  other  than  the  espousing  that 
side,  w'hich  would  naturally  come  under  his  protec- 
tion ;  but  he  added,  that  for  himself,  he  had  turned 
papist,  because  his  little  principality  lay  so  near, 
both  to  Austria  and  Bavaria. 

The  elector  palatine  told  this  with  pleasure,  as  it 
showed  that  other  jirinces  had  no  more  sense  of  re- 
ligion than  he  himself  had. 

As  secular  governments,  when  interwoven  with  a 
state  church,  have  a  direct  tendency  to  create  a  secu- 
lar priesthood,  by  their  mode  of  distributing  eccle- 
siastical dignities  and  bencflces,  it  is  not  to  be  ex- 
pected, that  in  times  of  peril,  change  and  persecution, 
a  national  clergy  should  be  ambitious  of  martyrdom, 
rather  than  relinquish  or  deny  their  professed  prin- 
ciples and  tenets. 

Accordingly,  it  is  a  thing  unheard  of  in  all  tlie  his- 
tory of  Christendom,  that  any  one,  single,  solitary, 
formal  secular  priest  ever  went  to  the  stake,  or  to  the 
gibbet,  or  to  the  dungeon,  rather  than  renounce  his 
religious  opinions,  or  relinquish  his  avowed  creed. 

At  the  era  of  the  Reformation,  the  great  body  of 
the  English  clergy  changed  backwards  and  forwards, 
shifted  with  every  wind,  and  moved  with  every  tide 
of  courtly  opinion,  and  royal  decree.  From  their 
original,  unmixed   popery,  they  veered  into  semi-pro- 

E  3 


52  STATE    Cl,EIlGY    NOT    MARTYRS. 

testantism,  under  the  teaching  of  that  powerful  theo- 
logian, Henry  the  eighth.  Under  the  sixth  Edward, 
they  professed  to  be  whole  protestants.  The  bloody 
Mary  brought  them  back  again  to  unmitigated  popery. 
Under  the  auspices  of  the  crafty,  arbitrary,  persecuting 
Klizabeth,  they  were,  once  more,  transmuted  into  com- 
plete, ready-made  protestants. 

During  the  reign  of  the  two  first  Stuarts,  they  were 
stanch  nonresistance,  passive  obedience,  ju7X  i/i- 
vino  high -churchmen.  At  the  Restoration,  they  wlio, 
from  all  the  rigorous  and  cumbersome  ceremonial  of 
Laud's  episcopal  formalism,  had  passed  full  easily, 
and  with  all  convenient  speed,  into  the  various  modes 
of  church  government  and  worship,  adopted  during 
the  fluctuations  of  the  commonwealth,  returned,  with 
equal  ease,  and  equal  speed,  to  the  former  usages 
and  rites,  rendered  still  more  burdensome  by  addi- 
tional impositions  and  severer  penalties. 

And  doubtless,  if  James  the  second  had  not  been 
cashiered  by  some  of  the  leading  EngHsh  families, 
the  great  mass  of  the  national  clergy  would  have 
gone  over  to  popery  with  him  ;  yielding,  however, 
another  goodly  crop  of  Bartholomew-nonconformists, 
from  the  better  portion  of  them. 

Pray  what  would  be  the  result,  as  to  the  conduct 
of  the  clerical  aggregate,  in  the  event  of  a  change  in 
the  English  state  religion,  now,  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury ?  How  large  a  proportion  of  the  national  clergy 
would  become  proselytes  to  tlie  new  scheme  of 
church  government,  whether  popish,  or  presbyterian, 
or  congregational  ? 

If  it  be  sound  doctrine  that  a  church  establishment 
is  necessary  to  prevent  a  Christian  nation  from  de- 
generating into  heathenism,  how  is  it,  that  under  the 
Hibernian  church  establishment,  Ireland  has,  ever 
since  the  time  of  Elizabeth,  to  the  present  hour,  a 
period  of  nearly  three  hundred  years,  been  positively 
increasing  in  popery,  paganism,  persecution,  igno- 
rance and  crime;  so  as  now  to  become  an  object  of 
apprehension   and  terror,    instead  of  being,  what  her 


IRISH    CIIUUCH    KSTABM.SHMENT.  53 

natural  situation  and  capacity  point  lier  out  to  be,  the 
efficient  right  arm  of  the  British  empire? 

If  there  be  a  spot,— says  ^Ir.  Middleton,  in  his  De- 
cades for  1770-1780 — in  the  wide  range  of  ^lethodistic 
exertion,  in  which  the  i)ious  but  fastidious  churchman 
would  less  regret  its  irregularity,  and  more  unhesi- 
tatingly rejoice  in  its  success,  it  is  Ireland.  From  the 
peculiar  circumstances  of  its  ecclesiastical  history,  and 
the  actual  condition  of  its  inhabitants,  the  benevolent 
mind  cannot  but  feel  satisfaction  at  the  endeavours  of 
theWesleyansto  carry  religion  into  the  cabins  of  its  be- 
nighted peasantry. 

Four-Jifths  of  the  population  were  lying  in  the  dark- 
ness of  pagan  ignorance,  or  the  twilight  of  popish  super- 
stition ;  and  the  (national)  clergy  in  general,  partly 
from  motives  of  delicacy  to  the  Romish  parish  priests,  and 
partlv  from  the  want  of  zeal  to  encounter  local  difficul- 
ties in  their  instruction  and  conversion,  seemed  to  aban- 
don them  to  their  fate. 

The  first  preachers  of  Christianity  in  Ireland — ob- 
serves Dr.  Beaufort — established  a  great  number  of 
bisho])rics,  which  gradually  coalesced  into  the  thirty- 
two  dioceses,  that,  for  several  centuries,  constituted 
the  ecclesiastical  division  of  the  kingdom.  But  when 
the  country  became  impoverished  and  depopulated 
by  the  perpetual  feuds  and  frequent  civil  wars,  with 
which  it  was  desolated  for  ages,  it  was  found  neces- 
sary, at  different  periods,  to  unite  some  of  the  poorest 
of  these  sees,  in  order  that  the  bishops  might  have  a 
competence  to  support  the  dignity  and  hospitality 
incumbent  on  their  stations ;  and  hence  it  comes, 
that  there  are  only  twenty-two  prelates  in  the  church 
of  Ireland,  twenty  sees  being  united  under  ten  bi- 
shops. These  causes  having  had  the  same  operation 
with  respect  to  parishes,  the  two  thousand  four  hun- 
dred and  thirty-eight  parishes  do  not  form  quite 
twelve  hundred  benefices,  many  having  been  conso- 
lidated by  the  privy  council,  from  time  to  time,  under 
the    authority    of  an    act   of  parliament;     and    many 


54.  IIELIGION    IN    AKI)    OUT    OF    CHURCH. 

others,  though  but  episcopally  united,  having  been  con- 
sidered as  only  one  living,  time  out  of  mind. 

The  consequence  was,  that  many  parts  of  this  fine 
and  interesting  country  exhibited  the  appearance  of 
wide  and  extensive  parishes,  nom'maUy  under  a  pro- 
testant  incumbent,  but  actually  divided  into  districts 
under  Romish  clergymen ;  while  the  great  body  of 
the  natives,  retaining  the  religion  of  their  ancestors, 
were  forced  to  contribute  to  the  maintenance  of  a  re- 
formed hierarchy;  their  resentments,  meanwhile,  em- 
bittered by  the  tyrannical  conduct  of  the  middle-men, 
or  agents,  employed  by  the  absentee  land  proprie- 
tors. 

The  existing  state,  moral  and  physical,  of  Ireland, 
is,  most  assuredly,  no  proof  of  the  Christianizing  ten- 
dencies of  the  Anglican  and  Hibernian  church  esta- 
blishments. 

If  it  be  a  correct  position,  that  a  church  establish- 
ment is  necessary  to  preserve  a  Christian  country  from 
tlie  darkness  of  heathen  ignorance,  how  happens  it  that 
tliere  has  been  generally,  and  is  now,  a  larger  propor- 
tional aggregate  of  evangelical  piety  out  of,  than  in  the 
church  of  England  ? 

To  say  nothing,  for  the  present,  of  the  condition  of 
the  state  religion,  under  the  Tudors  and  Stuarts,  its 
formalism  and  deadness,  during  the  reigns  of  William, 
of  Anne,  and  of  the  two  first  sovereigns  of  the  Bruns- 
wick dynasty,  are  sufficiently  notorious  to  all  who  are 
acquainted  with  the  ecclesiastical  liistory  of  that  pe- 
riod. Nay,  even  the  revivals  which  took  place  in 
the  time  of  George  the  third,  have  not  leavened  a 
very  large  proportion  of  the  national  clergy ;  as  ap- 
pears from  JNlr.  Middleton's  "  Ecclesiastical  JNIemoir 
of  the  four  first  decades  of  the  reign  of  George  the 
third." 

JNIr.  Middleton  gives  a  general  description  of  the 
English  liierarchy  and  clergy,  at  the  commencement 
of  that  period,  in  the  year  1760.  He  ranks  the  cha- 
racter of  the  episcopal  bench  as  Jicxt  in  importance  to 


ANGLICAN    BISHOPS    IN    1760.  55 

that  of  the  sovereign.  If  tlie  king  be  legal  head  of  the 
national  church,  and  supreme  in  all  causes,  ecclesiastical 
as  well  as  civil,  the  bisliops  are  considered  as  its  spi- 
ritual fathers,  its  actual  guardians,  its  practical  gover- 
nors. 

He  thinks  that  the  circle  of  human  dignities  can- 
not produce  a  more  weighty  or  lionourable  charge 
than  that  of  an  Anglican  prelate.  Lifting  his  mitred 
head  in  parliaments,  and  taking  his  place  among  the 
hereditary  legislators  of  the  realm,  and  counsellors 
of  the  sovereign,  his  exalted  station  entitles  him  to 
watch  over  the  interest,  advocate  the  doctrine,  pre- 
serve the  discipline,  regulate  the  worship,  and  defend 
the  revenue  of  the  fairest  and  discreetest  of  the 
daughters  of  the  Reformation  ;  to  enter  his  protest  with 
gravity  and  firmness  against  the  highest  patrician,  who 
shall  attempt  to  corrupt  her  principles,  or  destroy  her  pri- 
vileges ;  to  speak  of  the  Divine  testimonies  before  kings, 
and  not  to  be  ashamed,  knowing  his  immense  responsi- 
bility to  that  Providence,  who  hath  constituted  him  a 
chief  servant  in  the  household  of  faith  ;  while  his  dio- 
cesan, judicial  and  academical  authority,  or  connexion, 
enables  him  in  a  variety  of  ways  to  consult  the  spiritual 
good  of  his  contemporaries,  and  affords  many  facilities 
for  advancing  the  cause  of  godliness,  by  favouring  the 
faithful  reporters  of  the  message  of  heaven,  or  discoun- 
tenancing the  secular  and  heterodox  among  the  subor- 
dinate pastors. 

But  the  Anglican  bishops  of  that  day  are  described 
as  not  being  conspicuous  for  evangelical  purity  of  senti- 
ment, or  attachment  to  the  distinguishing  tenets  of  the 
Reformation,  as  expressed  in  the  articles  of  the  religious 
communities  over  which  they  presided.  They  drank 
too  much  into  the  spirit  of  the  fashionable  theology. 
Occasionally,  the  sound  sense  and  pious  convictions  of 
certain  individuals  of  their  number,  led  them  to  remon- 
strate with  their  clergy  on  the  necessity  of  adopting 
a  more  Scriptural  strain  of  preaching  than  generally 
prevailed. 


S6  ENGLISH    STATE    CLEKGY. 

Occasionally,  too,  tliey  set  the  example,  in  tlicir 
own  discourses,  of  a  departure  from  the  dry  method 
of  ethical  exhortation,  and  fortified  the  lesson  of  obe- 
dience by  the  powerful  sanction  of  Revelation,  or  cn- 
liglitened  their  audience  by  an  exliibition  of  the  holy 
verities  of  the  Gospel.  But  the  doctrine  of  justifica- 
tion by  faith  alone,  was,  in  general,  inadequately  and 
imperfectly  stated;  the  corruption  of  human  nature 
was  spoken  of  in  qualified  terms  ;  and  salvation  was 
too  often  represented  as  the  possible  attainment  of  mortal 
exertion,  and  the  legal  reward  of  a  religious  and  vir- 
tuous conduct. 

They,  either  wilfully  or  ignorantly,  stigmatized  all 
zeal  for  the  honour  of  the  Saviour,  and  all  compassion 
for  perishing  sinners,  which  led  the  preacher  to  proclaim, 
with  appropriate  energy,  and  in  familiar  terms,  the  ful- 
ness and  freeness  of  the  everlasting  Gospel,  as  Metho- 
dism, and  a  design  to  court  popularity,  and  ultimately 
to  effect  an  overthrow  of  the  national  church. 

By  most  of  the  dignitaries  of  that  day,  and  their 
ordinary  associates,  fervour  was  denominated  cant;- 
watchfulness,  hypocrisy  ;  and  abstraction  from  worldly 
society,  unnecessary  strictness.  Connected  with  the 
first  families  in  the  empire,  by  birth,  alliance,  or  cir- 
cumstance, their  criticisms  on  the  belles  lettres^  too 
often  usurped  the  place  of  Scriptural  information ;  what 
was  elegant  in  conversation  was  more  esteemed  than 
what  was  edifying ;  and  among  the  higher  orders  of 
the  clergy,  the  unction  of  humility,  which  flowed  from 
the  silvered  temples  of  Beveridge,  down  to  the  skirts  of 
his  garment,  aud  the  glow  of  holy  zeal  which  animated 
tlie  bosoms  of  Reynolds  and  Hopkins,  seemed  to  be 
exchanged  for  courtly  aspirations  after  preferment  and 
translation,  or  distinction  in  the  laxer  schools  of  modern 
divinity. 

The  national  clergy  of  that  period  are  divided  into 
the  secular,  the  latitudinarian,  the  orthodox,  and  the 
evangelical. 

The  secular  arc  represented  as    a  numerous    class. 


SKCULAU    Cl.ElKJY.  57 

Strangers  to  the  life  and  power  of  godliness,  imper- 
fectly acquainted  with  the  religious  truths,  of  which 
they  were  appointed  heralds,  and  better  versed  in  the 
maxims  of  pagan  ethics  than  the  principles  of  Chris- 
tian morality,  they  afforded  a  subject  of  animadver- 
sion to  dissenters ;  grieved  the  souls  of  the  righteous 
in  their  own  communion ;  and  bartered  the  lasting 
esteem  of  the  wise  and  good  for  the  precarious  friend- 
ship of  the  idle  and  the  dissolute. 

If  residing  in  populous  towns,  they  thought  it  not 
derogatory  to  their  sacred  profession  to  take  a  pro- 
minent part  in  the  amusements  of  the  worldly  and  the 
frivolous.  The  theatre,  the  tavern,  the  bowling-green, 
the  ball-room,  the  concert,  and  the  horserace,  were 
the  accustomed  haunts  of  these  degenerate  sons  of 
Levi.  Hour  after  hour  was  consumed  at  the  card- 
table.  They  sought  to  ingratiate  themselves  with  the 
polite  and  wealthy,  by  suppleness  of  manner,  smart- 
ness of  repartee,  readiness  of  quotation,  or  art  of 
compliment ;  and  as  the  clerical  dress,  so  commonly 
worn  in  the  preceding  century,  was  now  altogether 
superseded  by  a  habit  more  and  more  assimilated 
to  the  prevailing  fashion,  little  was  left,  even  in  ap- 
pearance, to  distinguish  the  ambassador  of  the  Lord  of 
hosts. 

In  country  villages,  they  associated  with  the  gen- 
try, in  their  field-sports,  hunting-parties,  or  convivial 
feasts;  where  they  witnessed  vain  conversations,  im- 
pious ejaculations,  and  intoxicated  spirits.  The  lord 
of  the  manor  attended  his  parish  church  on  Sunday, 
from  a  sort  of  mixed  feeling  of  at  once  propitiating  the 
favour  of  the  Deity,  and  setting  an  example  to  his 
tenants  of  reverence  for  instituted  ordinances.  In 
this  little  Gothic  temple,  he  listened  to  the  clerk  that 
prophesied  smooth  things  ;  or,  at  intervals,  dozed 
under  the  tame  admonition  ;  and  when  brought  to  the 
bed  of  death,  he  looked  to  this  same  clerk,  with  whom 
he  had  so  often  sate  down  to  eat  and  drink,  and  risen 
up   to  play,    to  administer  to  him  the  emblems  of  a 


58  NATIONAL    IlELIGION. 

Saviour's  body  and  blood,  as  a  passport  to  the  joys  of 
eternity. 

Those  who  have  learned  from  the  study  of  their 
Bible,  and  from  acquaintance  with  the  history  of  the 
world,  that  human  communities  and  nations,  invaria- 
bly, flourish  or  fade  in  proportion  to  the  prevalence  or 
absence  of  pure,  vital  religion,  in  the  hearts  and  actions 
of  their  people, — will  readily  acknowledge,  that  when 
so  large  a  portion  of  the  ordained  clerical  instructors  of 
the  state  were  thus  unfaithful  to  their  charge,  and  un- 
qualified for  their  office ;  and  when,  in  consequence, 
so  much  irreligion  and  gross  profligacy  pervaded  all 
orders  of  men,  it  was  a  righteous  retribution  of  a  right- 
eous God  to  smite  the  nation  with  his  rod;  to  purify 
the  polluted  atmosphere  by  his  thunders  ;  and  to  rouse 
the  country  to  a  sense  of  religious  and  moral  duty,  by 
a  series  of  alarming  visitations. 

The  civil  commotions  of  this  period,  the  animosity 
and  avowed  want  of  principle  in  political  parties,  the 
embarrassed  condition  of  the  government,  in  its  hosti- 
lities with  European  powers,  and  the  impending  dis- 
memberment of  its  American  empire,  are  the  evident 
judgments  of  Jehovah  on  a  land  that  had  dishonoured 
his  name,  and  his  truth,  through  the  means  of  that 
very  national  church  establishment  which  is  assumed  to 
be  necessary,  as  the  sole  preservative  of  men  from  gene- 
ral irreligion  and  heathenism. 

The  conduct  of  many  secular  clergymen,  who  en- 
gaged with  violence  and  pertinacity  in  party  politics, 
contributed,  also,  to  lower  the  whole  order  of  the  state 
priesthood  in  the  estimation  of  the  public.  Contests 
among  the  presbyters  themselves  were,  indeed,  dimi- 
nished by  the  disuse  of  the  houses  of  convocation  ;  but 
the  seeds  of  other  evils  were  sown  by  the  liberty  given 
to  the  national  clergy  of  voting  for  members  of  parlia- 
ment, as  an  equivalent  for  relinquishing  the  privilege  of 
self-taxation. 

This  tended  to  divide  the  clerical  body  on  great 
political  questions,  and  to  induce  individuals,  on  either 


LATITUDINAllIAN    CJ.KllGY.  oj) 

side,  to  conciliate  the  favour  of  patrons  of  benefices, 
by  exertions  in  their  behalf.  Political  elections  be- 
came regular  stepping-stones  to  church  preferment.  In- 
temperate language  sounded  from  the  pulpit ;  and  the 
zeal,  with  which  opposite  party  opinions  were  main- 
tained in  public  meetings  or  private  parties,  ill  became 
those  whose  province  it  was  to  endeavour  to  compose 
the  jarring  elements,  and  show  mankind  the  supe- 
rior duty  and  interest  of  striving  for  a  heavenly  inhe- 
ritance, and  giving  diligence  to  make  their  spiritual 
calling  and  election  siu'e.  Tracts,  poems,  essays,  were 
issued  from  the  press  by  reverend  authors,  who  breath- 
ed the  spirit,  and  exhibited  the  style  of  political  par- 
tisans. 

Nearly  allied  to  the  secular  class  of  the  established 
clergy,  was  that  of  the  latitudinarians ;  many  of  whom, 
however,  were  decorous  in  their  habits  and  studious 
men.  They  were  chiefly  distinguished  by  the  grounds 
on  which  they  subscribed  to  the  articles,  and  used  the 
formularies  of  the  Anglican  Church. 

They  considered  as  indifferent  many  points  of  faith 
and  doctrine,  which  the  orthodox  regarded  as  essen- 
tial ;  and  deemed  it  a  discharge  of  their  obligations, 
and  a  maintenance  of  their  integrity,  provided  they 
did  not  openly  and  avowedly  attack  the  received 
system  in  their  professional  capacity;  but  contented 
themselves  with  occasional  criticism  and  speculative 
discussion.  They  merged  the  character  of  divines 
in  that  of  philosophers  ;  and  putting  their  own  sense 
on  certain  theological  terms  and  religious  declara- 
tions, they  were  led,  by  the  very  nature  of  their 
system,  to  vague  interpretation  and  disingenuous  con- 
clusion ;  while  they  were  attached  to  the  ecclesi- 
astical establishment  by  expediency,  rather  than  con- 
viction. 

This  division  of  the  state  clergy  were  not  contented 
with  professing  themselves  mere  Arminians,  and  ob- 
jecting to  that  portion  of  the  articles  commonly  called 
Calvinistic ;   but  lapsed,   in  various  degrees   and  pro- 


60  NEGATIVE    DOCTRINES. 

2)ortions,  into  the  Arian,  Sociiiian  and  Pelagian  here- 
sies and  errors. 

Some  adopted  the  notions  of  Dr.  Samuel  Clarke,  in 
respect  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  as  well  as  the 
mysterious  subjects  of  liberty  and  necessity.  Others 
departed  from  the  Scriptural  simplicity  with  which  the 
Anglican  Church  receives  the  doctrine  of  the  fall  of 
man  in  her  articles  and  homilies;  and  either  considered 
the  IMosaic  account  of  that  awful  event  as  an  oriental 
allegory  ;  or,  as  only  implying  a  partial  declension  in 
the  human  mind,  and  by  no  means  a  total  departure 
from  original  righteousness. 

In  perfect  accordance  with  their  inadequate  views 
of  human  apostacy,  tlie  latitudinarians  rejected  the 
truly  protestant  tenet  of  justification  by  faith  alone ; 
Luther's  Articuhis  stantis  vel  cadentis  ecclesice ;  call- 
ing the  doctrine  of  imputed  righteousness  absurd  and 
unintelligible  ;  while  they  ridiculed  the  notion  of  ex- 
perimental evidence  in  religion  ;  a  melancholy,  but  con- 
clusive proof,  that  they  themselves  had  never  been  the 
subjects  of  religious  feelings  and  affections. 

On  the  doctrine  of  future  punishment,  both  as  to 
its  nature  and  duration,  this  class  of  state  clergy  en- 
tertained loose  opinions.  From  the  days  of  Origen, 
false  teachers  had  endeavoured  to  lull  to  sleep  the  con- 
sciences of  sinners,  by  impugning  the  Scriptural  denun- 
ciations of  final  and  irreversible  punishment  to  the 
ungodly  and  impenitent.  Never,  says  dean  Young, 
did  sin  sleep  on  so  soft  a  pillow,  as  is  made  up  of 
this  hypothesis.  A  negation  of  happiness,  or,  at  most, 
a  qualified  punishment  for  a  limited  term,  was  a  suf- 
ficient reckoning,  in  the  opinion  of  latitudinarian  theo- 
logues,  for  the  most  abandoned  rebel  against  God  and 
his  Christ. 

The  ortliodox,  among  the  established  clergy,  were 
fewer  in  number  than  either  the  seculars  or  the  lati- 
tudinarians. They  were  eminently  serviceable  to  the 
church,  and  to  the  cause  of  religion,  by  their  bold 
and    steady   assertion    of  some    essential    doctrines    of 


ORTHODOX    CLERGY.  6l 

the  Gospel.  And  though  some  of  them  revived  the 
high  tory  intolerance  of  a  former  age ;  and  in  their 
zeal  for  church  government,  consigned  all  non-epis- 
copalians to  the  w/icovenanted  mercies  of  God,  and 
thus  outraged  the  feelings,  and  shocked  the  under- 
standings of  many  of  the  most  pious  and  estimable  of 
their  contemporaries ;  yet  were  tliey  respectable  for 
their  general  consistency,  as  members  of  the  esta- 
blishment. 

Their  sermons  were  deficient  in  the  enerijetic 
spirituality,  and  affectionate  simplicity  which  marked 
the  addresses  of  their  evangelical  brethren ;  nor  did 
they  appeal  so  forcibly,  on  the  truths  of  religion,  to 
the  consciences  of  their  hearers.  Yet  were  their 
ministrations  blessed  to  the  conversion  and  edifica- 
tion of  many  ;  while  they  exhorted  sinners  to  flee  for 
refuge  to  the  hope  set  before  them  in  the  (Gospel, 
and  admonished  them  to  seek  that  influence  from 
above,  which  would  guide  them  into  all  truth. 

Against  the  Arian  they  upheld  the  doctrine  of  a 
Trinity  in  Unity  ;  against  the  Socinian,  the  need  of 
an  atonement;  against  the  Pelagian,  the  depravity  of 
our  common  nature.  But  in  stating  the  plan  of  sal- 
vation, they  were  not  always  sufficiently  clear  in  as- 
signing to  repentance  and  faith  their  due  place  in  the 
Christian  covenant ;  nor  in  representing  obedience 
as  the  fruit,  or  evidence  of  justifying  faith.  Their 
phraseology  sometimes  led  the  half-convinced,  self- 
justiciary  into  a  notion,  that  a  threefold  merit  attached 
to  his  })erson  on  repenting,  believing,  and  obeying ; 
and  that  when  salvation  was  affirmed  to  be  of  grace, 
it  rather  referred  to  its  origination  on  the  part  of 
God,  than  its  reception  on  the  part  of  men.  Bred  in 
the  modern  school  of  Sherlock  and  Wilson,  they 
drew  with  less  discrimination  the  characters  of  real 
and  nominal  Christians,  than  those  divines  who 
studied  the  writings  of  Hall  and  Leighton  ;  and  form- 
ing their  style  on  that  of  Tillotson,  they  branded  a 
plainer  and  a  more  Scriptural  diction  as  a  remnant 
of  puritan  ism. 


62!  EVANGELICAL    CLERGY. 

The  evangelical  clergy  of  the  church  of  England, 
so  called  in  derision  and  scorn,  by  their  formal  bre- 
thren, were,  at  this  period,  a  very  small  band.  1'hinly 
scattered  up  and  down  the  kingdom,  they  were  op- 
posed to  the  seculars  by  their  devotedness  to  the 
duties  of  their  sacred  calling;  to  the  latitudinarians, 
by  their  jealous  adherence  to  the  letter  and  spirit  of 
Kevelation  ;  and  to  the  orthodox,  by  their  faith- 
fulness in  proclaiming  the  doctrines  of  grace,  and 
declaring  the  whole  counsel  of  God ;  while  they 
equalled  them  in  theological  correctness  and  moral 
consistency. 

In  tliis  class  there  were  subdivisions ;  some  pre- 
ferring the  Calvinistic,  others  the  Arminian  scheme. 
They  not  only  differed  in  their  pulpit  statements,  but 
opposed  each  other  from  the  press ;  and  were  insen- 
sibly led  into  the  thorny  labyrinth  of  party  polemics, 
instead  of  making  common  cause  against  the  common 
enemy,  and  fighting  in  union  under  the  banner  of  the 
Cross,  against  formalism,  and  irreligion,  and  infidel- 
ity. They  differed,  also,  in  phraseology  ;  some  en- 
deavouring to  use  plain.  Scriptural  language,  with- 
out descending  into  provincial  barbarisms,  or  collo- 
quial vulgarity ;  others  thinking,  that  to  abstain  from 
a  rude  and  homely  diction,  was  an  evasion  of  the  of- 
fence of  the  Cross. 

Some,  lamenting  the  prevalence  of  religions  dark- 
ness in  England,  and  deeply  sensible  of  the  dangerous 
state  of  the  unconverted  millions  of  their  country- 
men, overleaped  the  pale  of  their  own  parishes,  and 
became  itinerant  preachers ;  exhorting  their  fellow- 
sinners  to  repentance,  faith  and  obedience,  in  uncon- 
secrated  places,  in  barns  and  in  conventicles,  and  in 
the  open  air. 

But  the  greater  number  of  the  evangelicals  deemed 
such  proceedings  inconsistent  with  the  regular  minis- 
trations of  a  national  priesthood ;  incompatible  with 
their  vow  of  canonical  obedience;  and  calculated 
to  prejudice  their  civil  and  ecclesiastical  superiors 
against   the   most   serious   and   devoted   of  the   state 


IlECENT    EPISCOPATE.  0*3 

clergy.  Many  of  these  divines,  in  tlicir  preaching, 
did  not  confine  themselves  to  the  nierelv  rcadina;  a 
■written  or  printed  sermon  ;  but  addressed  their  con- 
gregations from  short  notes,  or  extempore,  according  to 
the  custom  of  the  best  English  clergy,  under  the  Tu- 
dors  and  the  Stuarts.  Some  of  them,  also,  revived  the 
usage  of  singing  hymns  and  spiritual  songs,  abounding 
in  evangelical  sentiment,  in  addition  to  the  common 
versions  of  the  psalms  of  David. 

Does  such  a  state  of  religion,  as  that  just  described, 
among  the  national  clergy  of  England,  tivo  hundred 
years  after  the  settling  of  the  state  church  by  Ehzabeth, 
prove  the  position,  that  a  church  establishment  is  ne- 
cessary to  keep  alive  the  flame  of  pure  religion  in  a 
Christian  country,  and  to  preserve  it  from  gravitating 
into  general  heathenism  ? 

The  revivals  of  religion,  whicli  have  taken  place  in 
England,  during  the  last  eighty  years,  are  not  owing 
to  the  establishment.  For  the  national  church  esta- 
blishment, as  such,  has  always  endeavoured,  and  does 
now  labour,  to  the  full  extent  of  its  power,  to  crush 
all  revivals  of  religion.  The  treatment  which  Whit- 
field and  AVesley  received  from  the  state  clergy,  and 
their  compulsory  separation  from  the  national  church, 
is  well  known.  And  it  is  equally  notorious,  that  the 
civil  government  of  England  most  scrupulously  abstains, 
1o  this  hour,  from  promoting  evangelical  ministers  to 
the  high  places  of  the  national  church.  A  certai?2  re- 
cent appointment  to  the  episcopate  does  not  invalidate 
this  statement;  for  that  appointment  was  carried,  alto- 
gether, hy  familu  influence,  against  the  general  sense 
of  the  cabinet ;  and  in  direct  opposition  to  a  formidable 
petition  from  the  assembled  hierarchy,  that  such  a  pro- 
motion might  not  be  made. 

The  bishops  and  high  clergy  generally,  strive  to 
extinguish  evangelism  in  the  state  church,  by  dis- 
couraging the  ordination  of  pious  youth,  by  suspend- 
ing curates,  by  refusing  their  countersignatures  to  pre- 
sentees, and  by  discountenancing  and  harassing  actual 
incumbents,  if  guilty  of  preaching  the  Gospel  faith- 


64  IMPORTANCE    OF    DISSF.NTERS. 

fully  and  zealously.  Indeed,  now,  the  British  go- 
vernment and  its  hierarchy  unite  in  their  efforts  to 
destroy  the  evangelicals,  more  cordially,  and  more 
strenuously  than  has  been  done  before,  since  the  reign  of 
the  most  execrable  of  the  Stuarts. 

The  following  observations  on  the  importance  and 
influence  of  disscmters  in  England,  are  gathered  from 
a  modern  popular  and  able  work.  They  are  to  be 
received  with  some  degree  of  caution  and  allowance, 
because  they  are  written  by  an  English  independent  or 
congregational  minister;  who,  as  such,  in  common  with 
the  most  upright  and  conscientious  men,  cannot  divest 
himself  of  a  bias  in  favour  of  the  opinions  and  habits  in 
which  he  has  been  trained,  or  which  he  has  deliberately 
adopted.  Nevertheless,  they  contain  so  much  truth 
and  good  sense,  as  to  deserve  the  serious  consideration  of 
every  wellwisher  to  the  cause  of  pure,  evangelical 
Cliristianity. 

It  cannot,  surely,  be  contended  that  the  dissenters 
in  England  owe  their  piety  to  the  precept  and  exam- 
ple of  the  state  church ;  because  that  church  has, 
invariably,  proscribed  and  persecuted  the  dissenters, 
with  all  the  rigour  allowed  by  the  various  laws  of  in- 
tolerance, passed  in  different  ages  by  the  civil  go- 
vernment ;  and,  sometimes,  with  a  cruelty  beyond  the 
full  legal  allowance  of  the  most  flagitious  penal  sta- 
tutes. 

That  the  principles  of  English  dissent  have  ope- 
rated powerfully  in  the  world,  will  not  be  doubted 
by  any  one,  who  reflects  on  their  influence  in  creat- 
ing a  new  empire  on  the  American  continent ;  which 
has  already  contributed  to  the  most  mighty  revolu- 
tion in  the  state  of  Europe,  and  promises  to  become 
itself  one  of  the  most  extensive  and  powerful  nations 
of  the  globe ;  and  to  impart  its  impulses  to  the  other 
quarters  of  the  earth,  by  fostering  a  republican  spirit ; 
by  diffusing  the  stream  of  general  education ;  by  strength- 
ening the  force  of  public  opinion  ;  and  by  exerting 
incessantly  the  paramount  power  aud  influence  of  the 
press. 


TRUE    RELIGION.  65 

Our  present  object,  however,  is  to  show  the  influence 
of  the  English  dissenting  communions  upon  true  reli- 
gion ;  upon  sacred  literature ;  upon  public  morals ;  upon 
civil  and  religious  liberty ;  and  upon  the  national  pros- 
perity of  Britain. 

The  dissenters  have  most  powerfully  promoted  the 
interests  of  true  godliness ;  in  forwarding  which,  some 
hundreds  of  evangelical  ministers  among  the  state 
clergy  are  now  spending  their  laborious  lives.  From 
the  restoration  of  the  second  Charles  to  the  rise  of 
INIethodism,  in  the  reign  of  George  the  second,  dis- 
senters stood  alone  in  defence  of  the  best  of  causes. 
They  alone  maintained  the  depravity  of  human  na- 
ture, which  no  baptismal  waters  could  wash  away ; 
they  preached  the  great  tenets  of  the  Reformation, 
the  doctrines  of  justification  by  faith  alone,  and  of 
regeneration  by  the  Holy  Spirit;  when  they  were 
ridiculed  by  the  established  clergy,  in  defiance  of 
their  own  articles  and  homilies,  as  the  dogmas  of 
fanaticism ;  and  they,  singly,  dared  to  protest  against 
the  fashionable  vices  of  the  nation,  the  profligacy  of 
a  corrupt  or  a  careless  court,  at  the  hazard  of  being 
treated  as  outlaws  from  society,  and  traitors  to  the 
state. 

Of  them  may  it  be  said — except  the  Lord  of  Hosts 
had  left  us  that  remnant,  our  country  had  been  as 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  The  apostacy  of  the  English 
nation  from  the  sentiments  and  spirit  of  the  Gospel, 
had  been  nearly  total,  but  for  the  dissenters  ;  by  their 
means,  almost  exclusively,  a  vital  spark  of  pure  evan- 
gelism was  preserved,  and  the  nation  is  now  warmed 
into  light  and  life  by  the  spreading  of  the  heavenly 
flame.  To  have  been,  for  nearly  a  century,  the  wit- 
nesses for  God  in  the  land,  although  prophesying  in 
sackcloth,  was  a  high  honour,  and  a  distinguished 
blessing. 

A  thousand  dissenting  churches  were,  during  all 
that  time,  receiving  into  their  communion,  those  who 
were  converted  by  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  among 
them  ;  while  no  such  effects  were  looked   for  by  the 


66  SOCIAI-    RELIGION. 

established  clergy ;  nay,  were  derided  by  them,  as 
the  delirious  dreainiiigs  of  puritanical  madness  and 
folly.  To  form  an  adequate  estimate  of  all  the  benefits, 
direct  and  indirect,  produced  in  the  cities,  towns  and 
villages  of  England,  from  such  a  practical  testimony 
borne  to  the  most  important  of  all  truths,  is  beyond  the 
power  of  human  calculation.  But  he  who  exults  in  the 
prosperity  which  7iozv  attends  the  Gospel  of  Christ  in 
various  communions,  must  look  back  with  veneration  to 
the  people,  who  once  professed,  alone,  what  now  forms 
the  general  glory  of  the  land. 

Though  the  numbers  of  the  dissenters  are  more  than 
doubled,  and  their  activity  much  increased,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  compute  their  influence,  at  present,  upon  true 
religion  ;  because  they  share  it  in  common  with  new 
sects,  and  a  new  party  in  the  estabhshment.  But  as 
their  ministers  more  than  double  the  evangelical  clergy 
in  the  state  church,  it  is  manifest,  that  so  many  labour- 
ers, added  to  those  who  preach  the  Gospel  in  the  esta- 
blishment, must  produce  the  happiest  effects  in  diffusing 
religion  throughout  the  nation. 

Besides,  many  of  the  dissenting  churches  are  as 
important  now  as  ever  they  were  ;  being  located  where 
all  around  them  is  still,  notwithstanding  the  Christian- 
izing tendencies  of  a  state  church,  as  dark  in  irreli- 
gion  aud  heathenism  as  before  the  rise  of  Method- 
ism in  England,  or  the  subsequent  revival  of  religion 
within  the  bosom  of  the  establishment.  The  living 
fire,  so  long  secretly  cherished  by  the  dissenters,  has 
communicated  its  heat  to  many  who  avoid  their  name. 
Those  clergymen  who  were  the  fathers  of  the  Me- 
thodists, might  never  liave  been  heard  of  beyond  the 
boundaries  of  a  single  parish,  had  they  not  learned  from 
the  dissenters  to  consider  the  whole  kingdom  as  their 
parochial  cure. 

The  social  religion,  cherished  by  dissenters  as  the 
life  of  the  Christian  church,  has  not  only  produced 
the  happiest  effects  among  themselves,  but  has  also 
been  imparted  to  the  friends  of  evangelical  truth  in 
the   establishment.      Many,    who  remain  under  epis- 


SACRED    I.ITEIIATUIIE.  67 

copal  government,  imitate  the  dissenters  in  the  choice 
of  tlieir  own  ministers.  Thus  several  parishes  in 
London  have  obtained  evangelical  afternoon  lecturers  ; 
and  some  livings  have  been  procured  for  those  who 
preach  the  creed  to  which  they  have  sworn. 

The  zealous  friends  to  the  doctrines  of  the  articles 
and  homilies,  also,  observing  that  the  dissenting 
seminaries  for  the  ministry  are  supported  by  volun- 
tary contributions,  have  established  a  similar  fund  to 
support  serious  young  men,  while  preparing  at  the 
universities  for  the  ministry  of  the  Anglican  Church. 
The  INIissionary  Society,  formed  among  various  classes 
of  dissenters,  has  given  rise  to  another,  confined  to 
churchmen ;  and  new  proofs  are  continually  exhibited 
of  the  salutary  effects  of  dissent  on  the  cause  of  true 
religion,  even  beyond  the  immediate  circle  of  dissenting 
churches. 

To  the  liberal  spirit  cherished  by  dissenters,  Eng- 
land, also,  owes  much  of  its  eminence  in  various 
branches  of  literature  and  science.  They  have  al- 
ways exercised  considerable  influence  over  the  press; 
and  from  the  time  that  Elizabeth  compelled  the  pu- 
ritans to  establish  private  circulating  presses,  to  the 
last  of  the  Stuarts,  who  subjected  the  nonconformists 
to  the  tyranny  of  a  licenser,  they  struggled  to  avail 
themselves  of  this  mode  of  appealing  to  the  tribunal 
of  the  public. 

It  is,  however,  to  their  immortal  honour,  that  their 
laurels  are  principally  gathered  from  Mount  Zion ; 
and  their  literary  labours,  like  those  of  the  Hebrew 
sages,  consecrated  to  the  service  of  the  temple  of 
God.  Ainsworth,  the  rabbi  of  the  Independents, 
gave  the  first  specimen  of  just  expositions  of  Scrip- 
ture ;  and  struck  out  the  path,  in  which  Lowth  and 
Horsley  have  since  made  such  honourable  advances. 
Among  popular  commentaries  on  the  whole  of  the 
Sacred  Volume,  none  can  vie  with  that  of  Matthew 
Henry.  The  labours  of  Mr.  Scott,  an  evangelical 
clergyman   in  the  establishment,  deserve  high  praise, 

F  2 


% 


68  BODIES    OF    DIVINITY. 

particularly  for  the  valuable  collection  of  marginal 
references ;  by  which  he  has  far  surpassed  Brown, 
on  whose  shoulders,  however,  he  had  the  advantage  of 
standing. 

No  work  on  a  single  booli;  of  Scripture  is  equal  to 
Dr.  Owen's  "  Exposition  of  the  Epistle  to  the  He- 
brews ;"  valuable  on  many  accounts,  but  chiefly  for 
diligent  research  into  the  mind  of  the  Spirit,  expressed 
in  the  Scriptures.  Doddridge  and  Guyse  are  celebrated 
commentators  on  the  New  Testament ;  and  if  Scottish 
presbyterians  be  accounted  dissenters.  Brown,  JNIacknight 
and  Campbell,  deserve  honourable  mention,  as  valuable 
writers  on  the  Christian  Scriptures.  Dr  Taylor's  He- 
brew Concordance  has  afforded  great  assistance  in  the 
study  of  the  Old  Testament  ;  and  Dr.  Ashworth's 
Hebrew  Grammar  is  still  in  general  use. 

Nearly  all  the  bodies  of  divinity  in  the  English 
language,  are  the  productions  of  dissenters.  Baxter, 
Lawson,  Ridgley,  Gill  and  Watson,  have  each  given 
systems  of  theology,  valuable,  as  presenting  a  com- 
prehensive view  of  the  whole  subject;  however  ob- 
jectionable as  distorting  particular  parts.  In  the 
philosophy  of  theology,  president  Edwards,  and  Dr. 
Williams,  his  editor  and  commentator,  are  unrivalled. 
The  establishment  might  have  borne  the  palm  in  de- 
fending the  outworks'  of  Christianity,  but  for  Lardner's 
"  Credibility  of  the  Gospel,"  which  is  as  valuable  for  its 
aid  to  other  advocates  of  the  Christian  Revelation,  as 
for  its  own  intrinsic  merits. 

Of  detached  theological  publications,  the  far 
greater  part  have  been  written  by  dissenters,  if  we 
include  the  ponderous  folios  of  Owen,  Howe,  Baxter, 
Flavel,  Bates,  and  many  others  of  nearly  equal  worth. 
That  the  most  popular  published  sermons  should  be 
preached  by  dissenters,  might  have  been  expected; 
since  preaching  is  deemed  of  more  importance  by 
them  than  it  is  in  the  establishment,  where  the  liturgy 
is  generally  considered  as  more  than  a  sufficient  sub- 
stitute. 


REV.    THOMAS    SCOTT.  69 

The  Rev.  Thomas  Scott,  who  was  regularly  bap- 
tized, and  as  regularly  bred  up  a  formalist,  and  as 
such  took  orders  in  the  church  of  England,  but  was 
afterwards  awakened,  and  being  regenerated  by  the 
Holy  Spirit,  was  converted  unto  God,  says,  in  his  in- 
teresthig,  instructive  and  awful  narrative,  "  The 
Force  of  Truth," — some  time  in  November  1777,  I 
was,  by  a  then  unknown  friend,  furnished  with  a  con- 
siderable number  of  books,  written,  in  general,  by 
the  old  divines,  both  of  the  church  of  England  and  of 
the  dissenters. 

To  my  no  small  surprize,  I  found  those  doctrines, 
noxv  deemed  novel  inventions,  and  called  methodiBti- 
cal,  discoursed  of  in  these  books  as  knowai  and  al- 
lowed truths;  and  that  the  system,  which,  despising 
to  be  taught  of  men,  and  unacquainted  with  such  au- 
thors, I  had,  for  near  three  years  together,  been  ham- 
mering out  for  myself,  with  no  small  labour  and  anx- 
iety, was  ready  made  to  my  hands,  in  every  book  I 
opened.  I  do  not  wonder  that  the  members  of  the 
church  of  England  are  generally  prejudiced  against 
the  writings  of  dissenters,  for  I  have  been  so  myself 
to  an  excessive  degree. 

AVe  imbibe  this  prejudice  with  the  first  rudiments 
of  instruction,  and  are  taught  by  our  whole  educa- 
tion, to  consider  it  as  meritorious ;  though,  no  doubt, 
it  is  a  prejudice,  of  which  every  sincere  inquirer  af- 
ter truth  ought  to  be  afraid,  and  every  pretended 
inquirer  ashamed ;  for  how  can  we  determine  on 
which  side  the  truth  lies,  if  we  will  not  examine  both 
sides  ?  Indeed,  it  is  w  ell  known  to  all  those  who  are 
acquainted  with  the  church  histories  of  those  times, 
that,  till  the  reign  of  James  the  first,  there  were  no 
controversies  between  the  established  church  and  the 
puritans,  concerning  doctrines;  both  parties  being, 
in  all  matters  of  importance,  of  the  same  sentiments ; 
they  only  contended  about  discipline  and  ceremo- 
nies, till  the  introduction  of  Arminianism  gave  occa- 
sion to  the  Calvinists  being  denominated  doctrinal 
puritans. 


70  HORROE    OF    CALVINISM. 

To  this  period,  all  our  church  writers  were  Cal- 
vinistical  in  doctrine ;  and  even  after  that  time,  many 
allowed  friends  to  the  church  of  England  opposed 
those  innovations,  and  agreed  in  doctrine  with  every 
thing  above  stated.  Let  it  suffice,  out  of  many,  to 
recommend  the  works  of  Bishop  Hall,  especially,  his 
"  Contemplations  on  the  Life  of  Jesus ;"  a  book  not  ea- 
sily to  be  prized  too  highly ;  and  Dr.  Reynolds's 
works.  To  these  no  true  friend  of  the  church  of 
England  can  reasonably  object ;  and,  in  general,  I 
believe  and  teach  nothing  but  what  they  plainly 
taught  before  me. 

In  these  United  States,  we  have  no  dissenters,  be- 
cause we  have  no  national  church  establishment 
linked  with  the  civil  government ;  the  federal  con- 
stitution having  put  all  religious  sects  upon  an  equal 
political  footing.  But  our  modern  fashionable  theo- 
logians, in  the  American-Anglo-Church,  entertain,  to 
the  full,  as  great  a  horror  of  Calvinism,  as  do  any  of 
their  brethren  in  the  Anglican  establishment.  Nay, 
some  of  the  very  slenderest,  most  unfledged,  and  cal- 
low divines,  who  might  answer  to  Pope's  definition  of 
En  tick,  the  dictionary-maker,  as  one  who  may  possi- 
bly understand  the  meaning  of  a  single  word,  but, 
certainly,  not  the  meaning  of  two  words  put  together, 
—affect,  in  defiance  of  bishop  Horsley's  emphatic 
caution,  to  prattle  about  "  the  absurdity,  the  weak- 
ness, the  inconclusive  reasoning,  the  narrow  capa- 
city," and  so  forth,  of  Calvin,  Knox,  Owen,  and  many 
other  of  the  brightest  luminaries  that  have  ever  blazed 
as  beacon-fires,  in  the  Christian  hemisphere. 

It  is  no  breach  of  charity  to  say,  that  the  minuter 
formalists,  who  instruct  their  auditors  on  the  Sab- 
bath, with  a  meagre  compound  of  diluted  ritual  and 
attenuated  morality,  could  not,  possibly,  by  the  se- 
verest stretch  of  their  natural  and  acquired  under- 
standing, be  made  to  comprehend  one  solitary  link 
in  the  chain  of  argument,  employed  to  bind  together 
a  single  proposition  in  the  entire  system  of  theology 
embraced  by  those  great  men,  against  whom  they  so 


rUBI.IC    MORALS.  71 

incessantly  and  so  flippantly  babble.  But  "  there  is 
no  slander  in  an  allowed  fool,  though  he  doth  nothing 
but  rail." 

"  Let  Hercules  himseJf  do  what  he  may, 
The  cat  will  mew,  and  dog  will  have  his  day." 

While  the  devout  Christian  regards  the  prayers 
of  the  faithful  as  an  inestimable  blessing  to  their 
country,  the  mere  politician  values  religion  only  for 
tlie  sake  of  the  superior  morals  which  it  inculcates 
and  inspires.  Industry,  essential  to  the  cultivation 
of  the  soil,  and  to  the  progress  of  arts,  manufactures 
and  commerce,  is  seldom  carried  to  its  utmost  limit, 
except  under  the  influence  of  religious  principle. 
The  temperance  and  frugality  which  husband  the 
produce  of  labour,  and  leave  to  the  individual  a  sur- 
plus, to  supply  the  demands  of  the  state,  must  pro- 
ceed from  the  prevalence  of  mind  over  the  senses ; 
and  the  good  order,  which  frees  a  government  from 
the  fear  of  open  insurrection,  or  of  secret  crime,  is 
most  effectually  secured  by  the  fear  of  that  Supreme 
Ruler,  who  can  equally  detect  covert  villany,  and 
punish  prosperous  violence. 

That  dissenters  are  7iot,  as  a  body,  chargeable  with 
open  vice,  is  virtually  acknowledged  by  their  ene- 
mies, who  accuse  them  of  hypocrisy,  which  conceals 
odious  tempers  under  a  decent  exterior.  But,  as 
the  national  church  avowedly  embraces  the  whole 
population  of  the  country,  it  must  have  the  character 
which  belongs  to  the  nation  ;  so  that  declamations 
against  the  vices  of  the  land,  fall,  ultimately,  upon 
the  cliurch  establishment,  which  claims  the  aggregate 
body  of  Englishmen  as  her  children. 

When  excommvmication  was  practised,  its  thun- 
ders fell,  not  on  notorious  sinners  against  morality, 
but  on  rebels  against  ecclesiastical  authority ; — and 
now  that  its  thunders  are  silent,  all,  w^ho  are  not 
avowed  dissenters,  are  deemed  members  of  the  state 
church ;  from  the  splendid  profligates,  among  the 
aristooacy,    whose    divorce    bills    continually   occupy 


I'l  NATIONAL    CHUKCH    CHARACTER. 

the  attention  of  parliament,  down  to  the  convicted 
felons  recorded  in  the  Newgate  Calendar.  While 
this  scandal  necessarily  cleaves  to  national  churches, 
it  prevents  them  from  practically  promoting  the  cause 
of  morals,  whether  puhlic  or  private,  by  excluding 
from  their  communion  those,  who  grossly  violate  the 
pure  code  of  ethics,  which  they  may  publish  from 
their  pulpits. 

But  the  dissenting  churches  can  follow  up  the  mo- 
ral doctrine,  which  all  parties  profess  to  inculcate, 
by  the  strictest  discipline.  As  excommunication, 
among  them,  involves  no  injury  to  civil  rights,  it  is 
practised,  whenever  the  vices  of  a  member  disgrace 
the  body.  Knowing  themselves  to  be  objects  of  no- 
tice and  of  censure,  dissenters  are  unwilling  to  be 
identified  with  the  loose  and  immoral ;  and  within 
the  limits  of  a  single  congregation,  the  character  of 
an  individual  cannot  be  long  unknown.  The  evan- 
gelical dissenting  churches,  whether  presbyterian,  or 
independent,  or  methodist,  feel  themselves  bound  by 
tbe  authority  of  Scripture,  to  put  away  from  them  a 
wicked  person ;  and  even  the  less  honourable  mo- 
tive of  zeal  for  the  party,  would  induce  any  sect  to 
watch  over  its  moral  reputation,  as  essential  to  the 
accession  of  proselytes,  and  the  preservation  of  its 
own  members  ;  since  the  grossly  profligate  will  cease 
from  all  profession,  or  sink  into  the  easier  and  more 
fashionable  religion  of  the  state  church. 

While,  therefore,  some  are  deterred  from  vice  by 
fear  of  exclusion  from  a  society  composed  of  their 
most  intimate  acquaintances,  friends  or  relations; 
those  who  are  lost  to  fear  or  shame,  usually  abandon 
the  dissent,  and  transfer  their  character  and  influence 
to  the  establishment.  If,  on  these  accounts,  the  inte- 
rest of  morality  is  more  powerfully  promoted  by  dis- 
senters than  by  churchmen,  therefore  is  so  much  odium 
attached  to  dissent.  For  while  the  religious  con- 
demn and  abhor  every  species  of  vice,  the  vicious 
endeavour  to  retaliate,  by  pouring  ridicule  and  ca- 
lumny upon  the  stricter  profession  of  religion. 


GOOD    EXAMPLE.  37 

Hence  the  national  rage  against  the  nonconform- 
ists, at  the  restoration  of  the  second  Charles.  Had 
they  joined  the  revels  of  the  profligate  monarch  and 
his  infamous  court,  their  dissent  from  the  state  reli- 
gion, which  he,  as  defender  of  the  faith  and  supreme 
head  of  the  church,  established,  would  have  been  a 
venial  crime ;  for  while  he  was  reconciled  to  the 
church  of  Rome,  he  was  quite  cordial  with  the  church 
of  England.  But  they  wounded  his  pride,  and  stung 
his  conscience,  by  moral  conduct  too  far  elevated  above 
his  own ;  and  therefore  aided,  nay  urged  onward  by 
his  established  hierarchy,  he  sought  to  quench  every 
ray  of  evangelical  light,  and  truth,  and  purity,  in 
the  tears  and  blood  of  the  persecuted  disciples  of 
Christ. 

For  the  same  reason,  dissenters  are  unpopular  now; 
especially  in  villages  and  small  towns,  where  men  are 
better  acquainted  with  the  characters  of  each  other 
than  in  great  cities.  The  supporters  of  the  village 
alehouse  or  theatre,  are  the  greatest  enemies  to  those 
who  regularly  attend  the  meeting-house  ;  and  who  are 
often  reminded  by  rude  and  insolent  treatment,  as  they 
pass,  in  their  way  to  the  sanctuary,  the  Sunday  tip- 
plers, or  combatants  in  rustic  games,  how  hateful 
their  superior  strictness  in  observing  the  Lord's  day  is 
to  those,  who  are  lovers  of  pleasure  more  than  lovers 
of  God. 

Good  example,  however,  has  a  beneficial  influence 
even  when  most  hated.  The  societies  for  reforma- 
tion, which  sprang  up  immediately  after  the  revolu- 
tion in  1688,  were  the  first  fruits  of  the  superior  moral 
sense  preserved  in  England  by  the  dissenters ;  and 
the  strict  manners  of  the  methodists,  who  emanated 
from  these  societies,  may  be  traced  to  the  puritans. 
The  modern  associations  for  the  suppression  of  vice, 
and  for  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  find  their  most 
zealous  members  and  patrons  among  the  dissenters, 
who  have,  by  these  and  other  means,  elevated  the 
standard  of  public  morals.  And  as  the  Reformation 
compelled  the  popisk  clergy  to  ado])t  a  more  correct 


74  CIVIL  j,nu:iiTY. 

exterior;  the  inHiieiice  and  increase  of  dissenters  often 
obliges  the  established  clergy  to  regulate  their  con- 
duct, so  as  to  avoid  odious  comparisons.  Even  this 
constrained  morality  is  advantageous  to  society ;  be- 
cause, although  it  will  7iof  render  either  the  parson 
or  his  parishioners  real  Christians,  it  precludes  the 
triumphs  of  avowed  and  open  vices,  which  would 
otlierwise  be  sanctioned  by  usage  and  custom,  as  by 
common  law. 

Even  the  infidel  tory,  Hume,  who  has  so  zealously 
laboured  to  whitewash  the  Stuarts,  acknowledges  that 
the  English  owe  their  free  constitution  to  the  strug- 
gles of  the  puritans.  And  the  dissenters  have  the 
same  civil  right  as  others  to  vote  for  legislators,  who 
will  express  their  mind  in  tlie  debates  of  the  senate. 
This  right  they  have  generally  exercised  in  favour 
of  civil  liberty.  And  if,  as  Fuller  observes,  in  all 
political  changes  the  pulpits  of  the  established  church 
are  made  of  tlie  same  wood  as  the  council  board ;  it  is 
well  for  the  liberties  of  England,  to  have  other  pulpits, 
which  do  7wt  resound  with  panegyrics  upon  despotic 
measures. 

JSIr.  Howe,  whose  penetrating  eye  had  seen  much  of 
the  interior  of  courts,  declared,  that  the  great  cause  of 
the  hostility  of  governments  to  dissenters,  was  their 
known  abhorrence  of  arbitrary  rule.  The  tyrannous 
house  of  Stuart  reproached  them  as  an  unyielding  race, 
who  could  not  be  won  to  sacrifice  their  country's  liber- 
ties ;  and  the  high  tory  churchmen,  who  favoured  the 
exiled  dynasty,  have  ever  been  implacable  foes  to  the 
cause  of  dissent. 

But  princes,  the  least  unfriendly  to  the  liberty  of 
the  people,  have  always  been  most  desirous  of  extend- 
ing the  benefits  of  the  toleration  act,  and  of  abolishing 
the  odious  and  impolitic  restrictions  of  the  fest-\a\NS ; 
and  the  most  zealous  partisans  for  public  freedom  have 
usually  deemed  it  consistent  to  advocate  the  cause  of 
dissenters.  As  the  very  existence  of  churches,  dis- 
senting from  the  state  religion,  is  an  avowal  of  the 
duty  of  thinking  for  ourselves,  and  of  the  right  of  dif- 


||£L.IGIOUS    LIBE&TV.  ,0 

feiing  in  matters  of  religious  cansdeiice,  Stoui  our  ciril 
rulers,  the  patriot  prince,  or  minister,  alone,  cao  Xook 
ikvourably  on  this  indicadon  of  a  free  spirit, — while  tlie 
lorers  of  passive  submissioi],  of  exclusive  claioLs,  <^ 
church  establishments,  must  regard  it  with  abiuHranGe 
and  alarm. 

If  the  mere  political  reformer  denj  the  oUigatiooB 
of  Eug-Iand  to  the  influence  of  dissenters  in  the  civil 
state,  the  Christian  patriot  must  own  religious  liberty 
to  be  the  offsprino;  of  dissent  The  puritans  and  nwi- 
oooibrmists  pleaded  <Hily  for  the  right  of  enjoying 
th^  own  sentiments,  because  they  were  true ;  but  the 
dissenters,  their  successors,  have  added  the  benevo- 
loDce  that  contends  fw  the  libeity  of  every  man  to 
pnrfess  whatever  he  thinks  requisite  to  his  own  eternal 
safety. 

Nay,  even  within  the  pale  of  the  establisluneiit,  dis- 
senters have  difEused  a  portkm  of  religious  lib^ty.  So 
much  has  the  continual  inoease  of  separatists  lowered 
the  haughty  tone  of  the  ultras  and  Jbrmatists^  amoi^ 
the  Englidi  hietarchy,  that  they  now  paroleBs  to  plead 
ifx  their  own  existence.  It  is  highly  consnling  to  ob- 
serve the  influence  of  dissent^^  in  omnpeDnig  the 
establishment  to  be  \bs&  notodously  rigid  towards  her 
omi  SODS.  It  is  now  full  half  a  century  since  the  first 
£dnt  appearance  of  the  evangelicals  aiiong  the  state 
deigy,  who  have,  at  length,  increased  into  what  the 
^Hinal  dignitaries  denounce,  as  a  dangerous  schism  in 
the  establishment. 

But  iastead  of  the  sterner  inquisitions,  whidi  east 
out  the  puritans,  and  cut  off  the  nonomfiMinists,  the 
|»esent  ecclesiastical  govenMxs  of  Kngland  have  re- 
course to  such  paltry  pexsecutkm  of  stipendiary  eu- 
rates,  and  pious  piesentees,  as  Adly  demonstiates  their 
own  fear  and  weakness,  as  weU  as  their  hatzed  to  the 
doctrines  oi  the  refimnation,  contained  in  their  arti- 
des,  hcMniiies,  and  Htuigy.  ^Vhatever  indinadon  the 
f.  rmalists  exhibit  to  expel  the  evangelical  cleigr  from 
the  establishment,  they  dare  not,  now,  by  auothiO' 
Barthdomew-act,  give  the  dissenters  a  decided  nre- 


76  CHUliCH    EVANGELICALS. 

pondercance,  by  adding  to  their  numbers  such  a  formi- 
dable host  of  piety,  talent,  learning,  wealth,  wisdom, 
influence,  and  power. 

Nations  are,  too  generally,  supposed  to  prosper,  in 
proportion  as  they  extend  their  conquests;  yet  it  is 
not  the  extent  of  territory,  but  the  number  of  people, 
their  industrious  habits,  their  correct  morals,  their  su- 
perior comforts,  and  their  intellectual  eminence,  which 
form  the  prosperity  and  permanence  of  a  nation.  The 
voice  of  history  attests,  that  these  important  objects 
have  been  always  promoted,  precisely  in  propoition 
as  religion  has  prevailed.  But  nations  cannot  expect 
the  advantages  of  religion,  unless  they  afford  it  the 
protection  and  liberty  which  it  demands,  deserves, 
and  repays. 

While  Spain,  by  completely  extinguishing  the  free 
spirit  of  the  reformation,  sunk,  in  spite  of  her  im- 
mense physical  advantages,  into  a  feeble,  decrepid 
state, — Holland,  by  a  more  liberal  policy,  rose  to  a 
rank  far  beyond  its  mere  territorial  claims.  The 
spirit  of  religious  liberty,  cherished  by  dissenters,  in 
spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  the  church  establishment 
to  crush  it  beneath  the  iron  hoofs  of  persecution, 
enabled  the  little  British  Isles  to  contend  success- 
fully, during  five  and  twenty  years  of  unexampled 
warfare,  against  the  portentous  power  of  revolutionary 
France. 

The  mental  vigour,  produced  by  free  discussion  of 
the  most  important  of  all  subjects,  religion,  is  not 
only  favourable  to  intellectual  eminence  in  every 
other  department,  but  is,  also,  an  incitement  to  phy- 
sical exertion,  multiplying  the  productions  of  the 
soil ;  while  the  temperance  of  religious  sects  '  hus- 
bands private  capital,  the  germ  of  national  wealth. 
The  full  effects  of  this  spirit  may  be  seen  in  these 
United  States ;  where  the  men,  driven  from  England 
by  an  intolerant  and  persecuting  church  establish- 
ment, have,  in  their  descendants  and  followers,  grown 
up  into  a  mighty  empire,  which  regards  religious 
liberty   as   its    palladium ;     and    suffers   no   exclusive 


NATIONAL    PIIOSPKUITV.  77 


/  / 


national  sect  to  impede  productive  industry  by  an 
oppressive  tithe  tax;  or  to  proscribe  the  effectual 
exertion  of  public  talents  by  religious  tests. 

Besides  exciting  a  disposition  for  physical  and 
mental  exertion,  the  dissenters  have  promoted  na- 
tional prosperity,  by  the  free  spirit,  which  has  com- 
pelled the  British  government  to  respect  public  opi- 
nion ;  and  thus,  often  prevented  despotic  measures 
at  home,  and  destructive  schemes  abroad.  The  royal 
and  clerical  persecutors,  who  revoked  the  edict  of 
Nantz,  signed  the  death-warrant  of  the  sixteenth 
Louis.  And  had  not  the  efforts  of  the  Stuarts,  and 
of  their  established  church,  to  crush  the  dissenters, 
been  foiled  by  the  revolution,  which  brought  in  Wil- 
liam of  Orange  and  religious  toleration,  England, 
probably,  long  ere  this,  vvould  have  been  bleeding  at 
every  pore,  under  the  stabs  and  gashes  of  her  radical 
assassins.  So  intimately  connected  are  clerical  op- 
pression and  infidel  revolution. 

If,  unhappily  for  France,  her  ignorant  princes,  and 
bigoted  priests,  discovered  the  value  of  their  protest- 
ant  countrymen,  only  by  their  loss, — it  is  well  for 
Britain,  that  her  civil  government  and  church  esta- 
blishment have  not  been  left  to  learn  how.much  mo7'e 
pernicious  would  be  the  repeal  of  the  toleration  act, 
than  was  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Xantz. 

The  dissenting  congregations  of  England,  consist- 
ing, almost  entirely,  of  those,  to  whom  religion  has 
given  abundance,  and  taught  benevolence ;  or  of 
such  as  feel  it  their  duty  to  work  with  their  hands, 
that  they  may  eat  their  own  bread,  and  have  to  give 
to  him  that  needeth  ;  do  not  contribute  to  swell  the 
multitude  of  those  who  live  on  the  parish,  but  help 
to  feed  the  poor,  as  well  as  to  maintain  the  priest- 
hood, of  another  communion.  And  it  is  susceptible 
of  proof,  that  their  industry,  capital,  mental  energy, 
and  public  spirit,  give  greater  circulation  to  wealth, 
and  more  impulse  to  commerce,  manufactures,  and 
national  revenue,  than  is  derived  from  an  equal  num- 
ber in  the  established  church. 


78  CHURCHMEN    AND    T)ISST:NTERS. 

These,  and  similar  considerations  should  induce 
the  dominant  communion  to  feel  towards  those  who 
dissent  from  them,  that  spiiit  of  charity,  which  nei- 
ther envies  their  liberty,  nor  repines  at  their  pros- 
perity. And  hence,  dissenters  should  learn  to  im- 
prove to  the  utmost,  their  advantageous  distinction  ; 
and  never  forfeit  tlie  character  of  public  benefactors, 
whatever  treatment  they  may  receive  from  the  rest 
of  their  countrymen ;  remembering,  that  the  God 
whom  they  serve,  has  decreed,  that  "  Ids  people  shall 
be  among  the  nations  as  a  dew  from  the  Lord,  as 
showers  u])on  the  grass,  which  tarrieth  not  for  man, 
nor  waiteth  for  the  sons  of  men." 

If  the  want  of  a  church  establishment  necessarily 
tends,  either  to  wear  out  or  to  prevent  the  existence 
of  Christianity  in  a  covmtry,  how  happens  it  that  the 
Anglican  Church,  ever  since  its  establishment  at  the 
Reformation,  has  so  generally  persecuted  pure,  evan- 
gelical religion  ;  whether  detected  in  its  own  mem- 
bers or  in  those  of  other  communions  ? 

A  very  brief  eyeglance  at  the  ecclesiastical  his- 
tory of  the  church  of  England  would  show,  that  a 
pure  faith  and  a  holy  life  are  not  always  in  the  best 
possible  odour  with  a  national  establishment.  The 
Anglican  Church  kept  up  a  pretty  steady  and  unre- 
mitted fire  of  persecution  against  Christian  piety, 
under  the  Tudors  and  Stuarts;  from  the  ejecting  of 
the  puritans  by  Elizabeth,  to  the  Bartholomew  and 
other  flagitious  acts  of  the  last  Charles  and  James. 

And  although  the  toleration  act  of  the  third  Wil- 
liam prevents  open  and  avowed  legal  persecution, 
either  of  dissenters  or  of  conformists ;  yet  the  British 
government,  at  this  hour,  cautiously  abstains  from  pro- 
moting evangelical  men ;  men  who  support  the  Bible 
Society,  missions  to  the  heathen,  the  instruction  of 
the  poor,  and  every  other  means  of  extending  the  Re- 
deemer's kingdom ;  and  the  English  bishops,  gene^ 
rally,  labour  strenuously  to  stifle  every  spark  of 
evangelism  in  the  state  church ;    by  throwing  obsta- 


PERSECUTING    CHURCH.  79 

cles  in  the  way  of  pious  candidates  for  orders ;  by  dri- 
ving curates  from  their  dioceses ;  by  refusing  to  counter- 
sign the  testimonials  of  presentees ;  and  by  frowning 
upon  incumbents,  who  plead  guilty  to  the  charges  of 
preaching  the  pure  Gospel,  and  of  performing  faithfully 
their  pastoral  duties. 

William  of  Orange  was  a  stanch  friend  to  reli- 
gious toleration,  and  would  not  permit  any  persecu- 
tion for  conscience's  sake  during  his  reign ;  for  which 
he  was  continually  vilified  and  calumniated,  as  long 
as  he  lived,  by  the  great  body  of  the  established  clergy. 
Whereas  Ann,  a  veritable  Stuart,  weak,  bigoted  and 
intolerant,  was  a  prodigious  frivourite  with  all  the  ultras 
and  high-flyers  of  the  state  church. 

Before  we  glance  at  the  brief  outline  of  facts 
showing  how  much  the  Anglican  Church  establish- 
ment has  injured  herself,  and  the  whole  British  em- 
pire, and  the  best  interests  of  Christianity,  by  her  own 
formalism,  and  persecution  of  other  religious  sects,  it  is 
but  justice  to  premise,  that  the  house  of  Hanover, 
treading  in  the  footsteps  of  the  illustrious  William, 
the  great  father  of  English  toleration,  has  always  dis- 
couraged persecution  on  account  of  religious  creeds  and 
opinions. 

The  primary  act  of  the  reign  of  George  the  first,  was 
to  defeat  the  schism  bill,  an  iniquitous  measure,  with 
which  Ann,  a  silly  woman,  and,  like  her  father,  fraud- 
ulent and  persecuting,  closed  her  mischievous  life.  The 
infidel  St.  John,  whom  Ann  made  viscount  Bolingbroke, 
stood  forth,  at  this  time,  the  sanctimonious  champion  of 
the  established  church  of  England. 

Ann's  cabinet  ministers,  the  civil  guardians  and  pa- 
trons of  the  ecclesiastical  establishment,  having  planned 
the  destruction  of  the  dissenters,  deemed  the  means 
most  effectual  for  the  accomplishment  of  their  nefarious 
scheme  to  be,  the  depriving  their  children  of  an  educa- 
tion according  to  their  own  principles ;  and  reducing 
them  to  the  alternative  of  remaining  untaught,  or  of 
being  episcopally  trained. 


80  SCHISM    BILL. 

A  clause  was,  therefore,  inserted  in  the  bill,  brought 
into  the  house  of  commons  by  sir  William  Wyndham, 
on  the  12th  of  May,  1714 — "  that  no  person  should 
Iceep  any  public  or  private  school,  or  seminary  to 
teach  or  instruct  youth,  as  tutor,  or  schoolmaster, 
unless  he  subscribed  a  declaration,  that  he  would 
conform  to  the  liturgy  of  the  church  of  England, 
as  by  law  established,  and  have  a  license  from  the 
archbishop,  bishop,  or  ordinary  of  the  place,  under 
his  seal  of  office ;  under  penalty  of  three  months 
imprisonment,  on  conviction  of  teaching  without  these 
qualifications.  No  license  could  be  granted,  unless 
the  applicant  produced  a  certificate  that  he  had  re- 
ceived the  Anglican  Church  Sacrament  within  the 
year.  If,  after  this,  the  schoolmaster  was  present 
at  any  conventicle,  or  worship,  other  than  that  of  the 
English  church,  he  was  liable  to  three  months  im- 
prisonment, and  thenceforth  disqualified  for  teaching. 
The  next  clause  provided,  that  if  any  one  so  licensed 
should  teach  any  other  than  the  common  prayer  book 
catechism,  his  license  should  be  void,  and  he  be  liable 
to  the  penalties  of  the  act. 

Cruel  and  shocking  as  are  these  provisions,  the 
bill  was  yet  more  severe,  as  it  was  drafted  by  bishop 
Atterbury,  lord  Bolingbroke,  and  sir  William  Wynd- 
ham ;  but  Harley,  lord  Oxford,  exjumged  the  most 
persecuting  clauses,  that  had  been  penned  by  a  bishop 
of  a  protestant  establishment,  and  an  infidel  lay  peer, 
sitting  in  felicitous  conjunction  for  the  support  of  the 
national  church. 

The  bill  was  carried  through  the  house  of  com- 
mons, by  two  hundred  and  thirty-seven  against  one 
hundred  and  twenty-six  votes.  In  the  house  of 
lords,  the  atheist,  Bolingbroke,  and  the  bishop  of 
London,  spoke  stoutly  in  support  of  the  bill ;  the 
worthy  prelate  urging,  that  the  dissenters  made  this 
measure  necessary,  by  their  endeavours  to  propa- 
gate schism,  and  draw  churchmen's  children  to  their 
schools. 


PROTEST    OF    THE    LORDS.  81 

The  dissenters  were  not  permitted  to  be  heard  by 
counsel  against  the  bill;  and  the  motion  of  lord 
Halifax,  to  allow  them  schools  for  the  instruction  of 
their  own  children,  was  rejected.  The  bill  was  to 
extend  to  Ireland ;  and  was  finally  carried  by  seventy- 
seven  against  seventy-two  votes.  On  the  25th  of 
June,  1714,  it  received  the  royal  assent,  and  was  to 
go  into  operation  on  the  first  of  August  following. 

Twenty-six  lay  peers,  and  five  bishops,  namely,  of 
Ely,  Bangor,  St.  Asaph,  LandafF,  and  Lincoln,  en- 
tered their  protest  against  this  act,  on  the  lords'  jour- 
nals ;  because  they  could  not  apprehend  the  danger, 
recited  in  the  bill,  to  ensue  from  the  dissenters  to 
the  church  and  state,  since  no  dissenter  can,  by  law% 
hold  any  station  likely  to  render  him  dangerous. 
And  if  dissenters  were  dangerous,  experience  proves 
that  severity  is  not  so  effectual  to  reduce  them  to  the 
national  church,  as  kindness  ;  more  dissenters  having 
been  reconciled  to  the  church,  since  the  act  of  tole- 
ration, passed  the  24th  of  May,  1689,  than  in  all  the 
time,  since  the  act  of  uniformity,  passed  in  the  begin- 
ning of  Elizabeth's  reign,  to  the  time  of  passing  the 
toleration  act :  scarcely  one  considerable  family  in 
England  being  now  in  communion  with  dissenters. 

Severity  may  make  hypocrites,  but  not  converts. 
Nay,  if  severity  could  be  supposed  ever  to  be  of  use, 
this  is  not  the  time  for  it,  when  we  are  threatened 
with  much  greater  danger  to  our  church  and  nation, 
(from  the  ascendancy  of  France,  and  the  infection  of 
popery,)  against  which  protestant  dissenters  have 
joined,  and  are  willing  to  join  with  us  in  our  defence; 
we  should  not  drive  them  from  us  by  enforcing  a  law 
against  them,  compelling  them,  either  to  breed  their 
children  in  a  way  they  do  not  approve,  or  to  leave  them 
uninstructed. 

This  was  little  expected  from  the  established 
church,  after  the  act  of  toleration,  and  repeated 
declarations  from  the  throne  and  parliament,  against 
all  persecution,  which  is  the  peculiar  badge,  the 
avowed  doctrine   and   practice  of  the   Roman   church. 

G 


8':^  POPEUY     SCHEMES. 

In  all  instances  of  making  and  executing  laws  against 
dissenters,  the  design  was  to  weaken  the  church,  and 
to  drive  them  into  concert  with  the  papists,  for  its 
destruction.  Such  was  the  suggestion  of  popish 
councils,  to  prepare  them  for  the  successive  declara- 
tions of  Charles  the  second,  and  for  the  one  issued 
by  James  the  second,  to  ruin  all  our  civil  and  reli- 
gious rights.  And  we  cannot  think  the  contrivances 
of  papists  to  subvert,  are  the  means  to  preser^ve  our 
church  ;  at  a  time,  too,  when  we  are  more  in  danger 
of  popery  than  ever,  by  the  designs  of  the  pretender, 
supported  by  the  French  king,  who  is  engaged  to 
extirpate  our  religion ;  and  by  great  numbers  in 
England,  professedly  in  his  interests. 

But  if  the  dissenters  should  not  be  provoked  by 
this  severity  to  concur  in  their  country's  destruction, 
and  the  overthrow  of  protestantism  ;  yet  this  bill 
may  drive  them  from  England,  to  the  prejudice  of  its 
manufactures,  which,  having  been  gained  by  perse- 
cution ahi^oad,  may  be  lost  by  persecution  at  home. 

In  Ireland,  the  consequences  of  this  bill  may  be 
fatal,  since  the  papists  there  far  outnumber  the  pro- 
testants,  of  all  denominations  ;  and  if  the  dissenters 
be  treated  as  enemies  to  that  church  and  state,  with 
whom  they  have  always  joined  against  the  enemies 
of  their  common  religion,  the  protestants,  thus  unne- 
cessarily divided,  are  exposed  to  another  massacre, 
and  their  religion  to  extirpation.  And  the  Scots, 
whose  national  church  is  presbyterian,  will  not,  very 
heartily,  join  with  us  in  our  defence,  wlien  they  see 
how  hardly  we  treat  those  of  the  same  nation,  the 
same  blood,  and  the  same  religion.  It  is  the  more 
grievous  to  the  protestant  dissenters  in  Ireland  to  be 
thus  excluded  from  all  toleration,  because  the  popish 
priests  are  registered,  and  exercise  their  religion  un- 
molested. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  find,  in  the  penal  code  of 
any  country,  a  law  more  iniquitous  than  this  schisni 
bill  of  Bolingbroke,  Atterbury  and  Ann.  The  Eng- 
lish dissenters  had,    from   the  revolution,  enjoyed  the 


CHURCH    CATECHISM.  83 

benefits  of  the  toleration  act,  gratefully  and  peaceably. 
They  neither  opposed  nor  intrigued  against  the 
government,  as  did  the  great  mass  of  the  established 
clergy,  during  the  whole  reign  of  William. 

As  a  reward  for  their  loyalty,  the  state  church,  in 
conjunction  with  an  avowed,  unprincipled,  profligate 
infidel,  who  hated  and  reviled  Christianity  in  every 
form,  brought  forward  and  enacted  a  law  for  their 
destruction.  A  law  full  of  the  most  odious  and  des- 
picable provisions ;  a  law  to  deprive  parents  of  the 
right  of  educating  their  own  children,  and  of  consigri- 
ing  them  to  the  tuition  of  persons  of  their  own  reli- 
gious persuasion ;  a  law  forbidding  ministers  to  teach 
any  other  catechism  than  that  contained  in  the  com- 
mon prayer  book,  which  exhibits,  by  no  means,  so 
comprehensive  a  system  of  Christian  instruction  as 
do  the  catechisms  of  many  other  protestant  churches ; 
and  which  is  far  inferior  to  those  of  Edward  the 
sixth,  and  of  dean  Nowell ;  a  law  rendering  the 
teacher  of  any  other  catechism,  however  excellent, 
liable  to  imprisonment,  and  incapacity  for  further 
tuition  ;  a  law  depriving,  at  one  blow,  many  who  had 
dedicated  their  time  and  talents  to  the  instruction  of 
youth,  of  all  means  of  subsistence,  and  consign- 
ing them,  their  wives  and  little  ones,  to  hopeless  penury, 
for  no  crime,  and  without  a  cause ;  a  law  discourag- 
ing the  diffusion  of  learning,  when  at  least  one-fourth 
of  the  population  of  the  British  isles  could  not  master 
the  alphabet  ;  a  law  framed,  too,  after  the  most  solemn 
promises  given  by  both  houses  of  parliament,  and  by 
the  queen  herself,  that  the  act  of  toleration  should 
remain  inviolate. 

What  might  have  been  the  consequences  of  this 
flagitious  bill,  conceived  in  the  tender  mercies  of  the 
established  church,  is,  fortunately  for  England,  only 
a  matter  of  conjecture  ;  for,  on  the  first  of  August, 
1714,  the  day  on  which  it  was  to  begin  to  operate, 
Ann  passed  from  an  earthly  crown,  to  await  her  sen- 
tence at  a  tribunal  where  she  will  be  judged,  not  as 
a  queen,  but  as  any  other  sinner.      In  consequence  of 

G  2 


84-  CHUUCn    PEIISKCUTION. 

the  accession  of  the  house  of  Hanover,  all  the  members 
of  which  have  been  the  uniform  friends  of  religious 
liberty,  the  schism  bill  was  not  allowed  to  go  into 
effect ;  and  of  those  two  stout  champions  of  the  Angli- 
can Church,  Bolingbroke  and  Oxford,  the  successful 
plotters  against  Marlborough,  and  Godolphin,  and 
Somers,  and  the  national  glory  and  strength  of  England, 
the  one  was  exiled  to  France,  and  the  other  committed 
to  the  tower  of  London. 

It  is  worthy  of  notice,  that  all  formalists  and  per- 
secutors, in  churcli  and  state  establishments,  who  are 
most  zealous  for  excluding  all  religious  denominations, 
save  their  own,  from  every  public  place  of  profit,  honour, 
or  trust,  never  express  the  least  apprehension  of  evil 
to  result  from  the  indiscriminate  admission  of  men, 
who,  avowedly,  have  no  religion,  into  all  offices.  Yet 
those,  who  own  no  religious  obligation  to  duty,  nor 
any  religious  restraint  from  evil,  must,  unquestionably, 
be  the  most  injurious  to  society ;  notwithstanding 
the  assertion  of  Mr.  Bayle,  that  a  community  of 
atheists  would  make  a  much  better  body  politic, 
than  a  community  of  Christians.  An  assertion 
triumphantly  refuted  by  bishop  Warburton,  in  his 
"  Divine  Legation,"  and  by  M.  Montesquieu,  in  his 
"  Esprit  des  Loix." 

Indeed,  as  revelation  forms  the  only  basis  of  moral 
obligation,  public  and  private,  it  is  quite  vain  to  ex- 
pect, either  individual  happiness,  or  national  prosperity, 
or  elevation  of  character,  in  the  total  absence  of  all 
religious  faith  and  practice. 

It  will  be  no  easy  matter,  however,  to  dilute  the 
venom  of  sectarian  bigotry;  at  the  bottom  of  which 
lies  an  evil  heart  of  unbelief,  and  a  perfect  hatred 
of  all  spiritual  things.  This  unchristian  intolerance 
is  of  its  father,  the  devil,  who  was  a  liar  and  a  mur- 
derer from  the  beginning  ; — it  is  the  same  spirit,  hot 
from  hell,  which  has  prompted  all  the  persecutions  of 
the  wicked  against  the  righteous,  from  the  time  when 
Cain  slew  his  brother,  because  Abel's  heart  was  better 
affected    towards    God  than    his    own,    down   to  the 


JANSENIST    AND    ATHEIST.  S5 

present  hour  of  controversial  misrepresentcition,    malice 
and  calumny. 

A  thorough-bred  sectarian  considers  an  avowed 
infidel,  as  less  obnoxious  than  the  most  exemplary 
Christian  of  a  persuasion  different  from  his  own.  The 
duke  of  Orleans  applied  to  Louis  the  fourteenth,  to 
appoint  a  -particular  friend  of  his  to  a  certain  of- 
fice. The  king  said  no, — because  his  father  con- 
fessor, a  devout  Jesuit,  had  informed  him,  that  the 
man  was  a  Jansenist.  Sire,  replied  the  duke,  my 
friend  is  no  Jansenist;  he  does  not  believe  in  any 
God,  he  is  an  atheist.  The  French  monarch,  his 
most  Christian  majesty,  the  protector  of  the  esta- 
blished church  in  his  dominions,  finding  the  applicant 
only  an  atheist,  and  not  belonging  to  the  only  portion 
of  the  Gallican  Church  that  ever  exhibited  any  sym- 
ptoms of  Christian  piety,  forthwith  gave  him  the  desired 
appointment. 

In  passing,  may  I  be  pardoned  for  recommending 
to  my  younger  readers,  Blaise  Pascal's  "  Provincial 
Letters."  In  this  book,  the  lax  morals,  the  sophisti- 
cal reasoning,  and  spurious  religion,  of  the  Jesuits, 
are  exposed  in  the  fullest  manner,  by  the  united 
forces  of  truth,  piety,  genius,  eloquence,  wit,  and 
learning. 

In  truth,  some  who  are  not  professed  Jesuits,  among 
our  modern  heads  and  guardians  of  a  church  establish- 
ment, seem  to  incline  as  much  more  favourably  to 
infidelity  and  atheism,  than  to  evangelism,  as  did 
Louis  and  his  Jesuitical  confessor.  Bishop  Tomline, 
in  the  fourtli  chapter  of  his  "  Refutation  of  Calvin- 
ism," when  treating  of  universal  redemption,  election, 
and  reprobation,  says  : — 

"  The  preservation  of  this  most  pure  and  reformed 
part  of  the  Christian  church,  the  church  of  England, 
must  ever,  under  the  blessing  of  God,  greatly  depend 
upon  the  exertions  of  the  parochial  clergy.  Not 
many  years  since,  they  were  called  upon  to  resist 
the  open  attacks  of  infidelity  and  atheism  ;  and,  at 
present,  they  have  to  contend  with  the  more  secret, 


86  BISHOP    TOIMLINE. 

but  not  less  dangerous  attempts  of  schism  and  enthu- 
siasm. In  tracing  the  coherence,  says  IMr.  Hume, 
among  the  systems  of  modern  theology,  we  may  ob- 
serve, that  the  doctrine  of  absohite  decrees  has  ever 
been  intimately  connected  with  the  enthusiastic  spi- 
rit :"  &c. 

The  remarks  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Scott,  upon  this 
singular  effusion  of  his  own  diocesan,  are  worthy  of 
remembrance :  "  Are,  then,"  he  asks,  "  the  evange- 
lical clergy  in  the  church,  and  the  Calvinist  dissenters, 
according  to  the  latitude  in  which  that  term  is  used 
in  the  Refutation,  as  dangerous  enemies  to  genuine 
Christianity,  as  infidels  and  atheists  ?  No ;  this  is  not 
intended  ;  but  they  are  as  dangerous  to  the  national 
establishment.  In  what  respect?  To  the  real  reli- 
gious interests  of  the  establishment ;  that  is,  its  sub- 
serviency to  the  success  of  true  Christianity,  in  England 
and  in  the  world  ? 

"  The  evangelical  clergy,  I  must  be  allowed  to 
think,  are  peculiarly  useful  in  promoting  the  genuine 
interests  of  the  national  church,  in  this  respect ;  and 
would  be  much  more  so,  were  they  not  systematically 
thwarted  and  counteracted  by  powerful  opponents. 
I  must,  indeed,  allow,  that  the  efforts  and  success  of 
the  dissenters  are  formidable  to  the  establishment ;  yet, 
surely,  no  Christian  will  say,  that  the  increase  of 
avowed  infidels  and  atheists  in  the  same  proportion  as 
dissenters  have  lately  multiplied,  would  not  be  far  more 
formidable  to  the  cause  of  Christianity,  and  to  that  of 
the  church  of  England ;  or  that  the  nation  had  not 
better  be  filled  with  dissenters,  holding  the  grand  and 
leading  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  in  a  practical  manner, 
than  with  infidels  and  atheists ! 

"  The  advice  given  by  a  person  high  in  authority 
to  one  who  complained  of  the  success  of  dissenters,  was, 
to  o?/^preach,  02^/pray,  and  ow/live  them.  This  states 
the  only  method  of  preventing  their  final  preponder- 
ance. The  English  clergy,  in  general,  from  the  highest 
dignitary  to  the  meanest  curate,  must  be  more  zealous 


AiviEiucAN  to:mi,ines.  87 

and  scriptural ;  more  instant  in  season,  out  of  season, 
ivKaifi'jjij  aKiiifjcoc,  in  preaching;  jnore  fervent  and  con- 
stant in  prayer,  and  more  holy  and  heavenly  in  tlieir 
lives  and  example,  in  all  respects,  than  the  dissenting 
teachers  are,  if  they  would  effectually  stop  their  pro- 
gress. All  other  methods  will  be  found  by  experience 
to  be  mere  palliatives. 

"  I  should  not  have  previously  supposed  that  a 
protestant  bishop  would  have  deigned  to  quote  the 
infidel  Hume  in  such  an  argument  ;  who,  as  might 
easily  be  proved,  showed  as  much  ignorance  when  he 
presumed  to  write  about  religion,  as  he  did  sound  and 
accurate  information  on  other  subjects ;  and  who  never, 
thoughout  his  whole  history,  meets  with  any  thing  like 
Christianity  among  papists  or  protestants,  Calvinists 
or  Arminians,  churchmen  or  dissenters,  but  he  shows 
most  clearly  his  bitter  enmity  and  sovereign  contempt 
of  it ;  and  that  always  in  proportion  as  the  enemy  to  be 
assailed  approximates  to  the  religion  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament. I  disdain  to  answer  Hume's  accusation  of 
enthusiasm.  I  only  deny  its  truth;  and  I  rejoice 
that  his  testimony  is  against  us  ;  it  is  the  highest  ap- 
plause which  such  a  man  was  capable  of  bestowing  on 
religious  characters." 

Notwithstanding  these  conclusive  remarks  of  JMr. 
Scott,  our  American  Tomlines  persist  in  declaring 
"  that  the  evangelical  clergy  of  the  church  of  Eng- 
land will  destroy  that  church,  unless  they  are  speedily 
put  down  ;  but  they  will  take  care  the  evangelicals 
shall  never  have  any  footing  in  their  church.  But 
after  all  that  may  be  said  or  done,  fijiis  coronat  opus; 
and  we  may,  peradventure,  yet  live  to  see  the  grace 
of  God  shed  abroad  upon  our  American-Anglo- 
Churches  ;  and  if  it  be,  it  will,  undoubtedly,  ])ro\e 
too  hard  for  its  opponents,  and  their  own  legitimate 
master  too. 

How  ignorant  of  the  genius  of  Christianity,  and 
of  the  very  elements  of  human  nature  itself,  have 
religious  persecutors  always  sliown  themselves.     Their 


88  FRAMCIS    THE    FIRST. 

object  seems  to  be,  the  extermination  of  all  those  who 
presume  to  differ  in  opinion  from  them  ;  whereas,  the 
experience  of  all  time  shows,  that  mere  persecution 
has  never  yet  been  able  to  subdue  truth,  or  to  repress 
error. 

Francis  the  first,  of  France,  did  not  stifle  the  flame 
of  protestantism,  even  in  his  own  dominions,  when 
instigated  by  the  established  clergy,  in  order  to  expiate 
the  crime  of  some  anonymous  writings  against  the  mum- 
mery of  the  mass,  he,  together  with  his  three  sons, 
bareheaded,  carried  a  torch  in  his  hand,  at  a  procession 
and  public  prayers ;  and  commanded,  that  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  four  most  frequented  parts  of  Paris,  eight  of 
the  reformed  should  be  burned  alive.  And  thirty-two 
protestants  w^ere,  accordingly,  committed  to  the  flames, 
as  an  edifying  spectacle  for  the  good  Parisians. 

This  was  the  natural  consequence  of  so  identifying  a 
national  or  established  church  with  Christianity,  as  to 
make  a  separation  from  its  pale  the  test  of  heresy. 
How  much  more  execrable  is  papal  than  pagan  perse- 
cution !  Upon  the  very  substance  and  essence  of  hea- 
then worship  did  the  first  Christians  innovate;  de- 
nouncing it  as  absurd,  corrupt,  ruinous.  But  the 
innovation  of  the  protestants  did  not  touch  one  single, 
fundamental,  essential  point  of  Christianity.  They 
separated  from  the  polluted  and  polluting  circumstan- 
tials of  Rome,  which  Iier  secular,  formal,  established 
hierarchy,  by  the  very  fact  of  persecution,  exalt  above 
all  the  distinguishing  doctrines  of  the  gospel. 

As  persecution  and  falsehood  are  inseparably  al- 
lied, Francis,  who  was  courting  the  aid  of  the  pro- 
testant  princes  in  Germany,  to  support  him  against 
the  power  of  his  formidable  rival,  Charles  the  fifth, 
declared  publicly,  that  he  had  only  burned  thirty- 
two  anabaptists  for  seditious  and  turbulent  practices. 
In  order  to  refute  this  infamous  calumny,  John  Cal- 
vin addressed  to  the  French  king  the  admirable 
dedication  to  his  Christian  Institutes  ;  a  composition, 
which  Alexander  Morus  ranks  with  the  preface  of 
president  de  Thou,  Thuanus,  to  his  history,  and  the 


CARDINAL    BELLARMIN.  81) 

preface  of  Casaubon  to  his  Polybius,  as  one  of  the 
three  masterpieces  of  the  age.  Of  course  Calvin's 
hicubratioiis  did  not  edify  Francis,  who  never  read 
them ;  religious  formalists  and  persecutors  having  no 
desire  to  be  convinced  of  truth,  or  induced  to  hu- 
manity. 

On  his  accession  to  the  English  throne,  George  the 
first,  in  answer  to  an  address  from  the  protestant  dis- 
senting ministers  in  and  about  London,  said,  "  I  take 
this  occasion,  also,  to  express  to  you  my  firm  purpose, 
to  do  all  in  my  power  for  supporting  and  maintaining 
the  churches  of  England  and  Scotland,  as  they  are  se- 
verally by  law  established  ;  which  I  am  of  opinion  may 
be  effectually  done  without  the  least  impairing  the  to- 
leration, allowed  by  law  to  protestant  dissenters ;  so 
agreeable  to  Christian  charity,  and  so  necessary  to  the 
trade  and  riches  of  this  kingdom." 

What  a  noble  contrast  this  declaration  of  the  Ens:- 
lish  monarch  forms  to  the  answer  of  Charles  the  fifth 
of  Germany,  when  it  was  represented  to  him,  that  he 
would  ruin  his  Hungarian  dominions,  if  he  continued 
thus  rigorously  to  persecute  the  protestants  there  : — 
"  I  would  rather,"  replied  the  emperor,  "  see  Hungary 
one  vast  wilderness,  than  permit  a  single  heretic  to  live 
therein." 

A  speech  quite  worthy  of  one  of  tlie  eldest  sons  of 
the  pope;  the  Roman  pontiff's  functions  being,  says 
cardinal  Bellarmin,  twofold ;  the  one  to  feed  the 
church,  conmianded  in  John,  chap.  21,  v.  16,  where 
our  Saviour  says,  "  feed  my  sheep ;"  the  other,  to  put 
heretics  to  death,  enjoined  in  Acts,  chap.  10,  v.  13, 
in  these  words,  "  Rise,  Peter,  kill  and  eat."  But  the 
benevolent  cardinal  has  not  carried  throughout  his 
own  mode  of  Scripture  interpretation  ;  for,  according 
to  this  scheme  of  exposition,  it  is  not  only  the  pope's 
function  to  kill  heretics,  but  likewise  to  eat  all  that  he 
kills. 

George  the  first,  also,  sensible  of  the  attachment 
of  the  dissenters  to  his  family  and  government,  gave 
them    an    annual    donation.       Five    hundred    pounds 


90  GEORGK    THE    SECOND. 

sterling  were  given  in  1720,  for  the  use  of  the  indigent 
widows  of  dissenting  ministers.  Soon  after,  the  same 
sum  was  paid  lialf-yearly,  for  assisting  ministers  who 
wanted  reUef;  or  for  such  purposes  as  the  distributors 
might  think  most  beneficial  to  the  dissenting  body. 
Finally,  the  yearly  donation  was  increased  to  two  thou- 
sand pounds  ;  which  is  continued  to  be  paid  by  the 
British  sovereign  at  this  day. 

Nor  did  George  the  second  degenerate  from  his 
father,  in  this  respect.  For  when  Mr.  Whitfield  was 
ordered  to  attend  at  the  house  of  commons,  to  give 
information  as  to  the  state  of  the  new  colony  of 
Georgia,  he  was  received  kindly  by  the  speaker,  and 
assured  that  there  would  be  no  persecution  in 
George  the  second's  reign.  And  when  some  digni- 
taries of  the  established  church  commenced  a  pro- 
secution in  the  spiritual  court,  the  English  Inquisi- 
tion, against  Dr.  Doddridge,  for  the  crime  of  teach- 
ing an  academy  at  Northampton,  the  king,  on  being 
informed  of  this  exhibition  of  clerical  intolerance, 
expressly  commanded  the  prosecution  to  be  stop- 
ped. 

Thus  did  the  king  of  England  again  confirm  the 
declaration  made  by  him,  on  ascending  the  throne, 
"  that,  during  his  reign,  there  should  be  no  persecu- 
tion for  conscience's  sake."  A  declaration  which  he 
repeated,  when  it  was  represented  to  him,  that  those 
profound  theologians,  the  English  rabble,  instigated 
by  the  established  clergy,  and  country  justices,  in- 
flicted their  usual  arguments  of  mud  missiles,  stones, 
and  manual  violence,  upon  Mr.  Wesley,  and  his  fol- 
lowers. Accordingly,  when  no  redress  from  these 
grievances  could  be  obtained  from  the  rural  magis- 
trates, the  court  of  king's  bench  did  prompt  and 
ample  justice  on  the  rioters ;  and  the  Arminian  Me- 
thodists were  permitted  to  labour  unmolested  in  their 
vocation. 

George  the  third,  also,  in  answer  to  an  address  pre- 
sented to  him  by  the  London  dissenting  ministers,  on 
his  accession  to  the  throne  in  1760,  said, — "  you  may 


GEORGE    THF-    THIRD.  91 

be  assured  of  my  protection  ;  and  of  my  care  and  atten- 
tion to  support  the  protestant  interest,  and  to  maintain 
the  toleration  inviolable." 

To  the  honour  of  the  British  sovereign,  this  decla- 
ration was  faithfully  kept;  and  the  religious  liberties 
of  England  continued  unimpaired ;  notwithstanding 
the  rapid  growth  of  dissenters,  owing  to  the  superior 
zeal  and  activity  of  their  ministers;  as  compared 
with  the  listlessness  and  drowsy  formalism  of  the  great 
body  of  the  established  clergy.  The  venerable  mo- 
narch treated  with  catholic  liberality  the  dissenters 
attached  to  his  royal  household.  They  never  experi- 
enced the  least  diminution  of  favour,  on  account  of 
their  religious  tenets ;  but  the  king  took  pains  to  ac- 
commodate them,  that  they  might  attend  their  own 
places  of  worship. 

The  same  liberal  spirit  towards  their  domestics 
and  dependents  was  exhibited  by  his  children.  In 
1802,  the  duke  of  York,  as  commander  in  chief  of 
the  English  army,  issued  a  general  order,  that  no  sol- 
dier in  the  British  service  should  be  compelled  to  at- 
tend any  mode  of  worship,  which  he  did  not,  or  be 
prevented  from  following  any  which  he  did,  approve. 
It  were  well,  if  some  of  the  English  nobility  and  gen- 
try, attached  to  the  state  church,  and  who  persecute 
their  tenants  and  dependents  on  account  of  their  reli- 
gious opinions,  instances  of  which  I  myself  saw  in  the 
winter  of  1821-2,  would  follow  this  laudable  example 
of  their  superiors 

Nor  has  the  present  reign  been  disgraced  by  any  go- 
vernment persecution,  on  the  score  of  religion.  So  far 
from  it,  that  an  attempt  at  intolerance,  in  a  very  tender 
point,  and  under  peculiar  circumstances,  met  with  the 
most  decided  disapprobation. 

In  the  year  1820,  when  party  feelings  were  ex- 
ceedingly exasperated  on  all  sides,  pending  the  trial 
of  the  late  English  queen,  an  unlucky  chaplain  to  a 
Scottish  regiment,  quartered  in  Edinburgh,  ventured 
in  his  prayer,  after  the  close  of  his  sermon,  to  beseech 
God  that  he  would   have   mercy  upon  and  bless  her 


92  GEOlKiE    THE    FOURTH. 

majesty.  The  cominandiiig  officer  of  the  regiment,  a 
very  devout  soldier,  and  a  most  loyal  theologian,  in- 
stantly placed  the  reverend  orator  under  military  arrest ; 
and  forthwith  sent  notice  thereof,  together  with  an 
account  of  the  flagrant  crime  committed,  to  the  secre- 
tary of  state  for  the  home  department. 

By  return  of  post,  the  home  secretary  sent  down 
an  order  for  the  preacher's  release,  accompanied  by  a 
gentle  objurgation  of  the  learned  colonel,  whose  zeal,  in 
this  instance,  had  not  been  according  to  knowledge. 
How  far  the  inflicting  martial  punishment  on  a  Scot- 
tish presbyterian  clergyman  for  exercising  his  vocation 
in  praying  for  whom  he  listeth,  is  an  encroachment  upon 
the  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  of  the  kirk  of  Scotland, 
established  under  the  articles  of  union  agreed  to  between 
the  two  nations,  in  the  reign  of  Ann,  is  left  for  the 
wisdom  of  civilians  to  determine. 

The  fact  of  the  immediate  release  of  the  reverend 
prisoner  from  durance  vile,  shows  that  the  British 
government,  under  George  the  fourth,  is  not  inclined 
to  persecute  men  on  account  of  their  religious  opinions 
or  feelings;  otherwise,  as  the  causes  of  personal  exas- 
peration in  this  particular  case  were  abundant,  and  had 
long  been  known  to  all  the  world,  it  might  have  called 
down  a  little  ministerial  benediction  upon  the  luckless 
wight  who  had  presumed  to  interpose  his  opinion,  even 
in  his  prayers. 

In  1821,  the  Madagascar  prince,  sent  to  London 
in  consequence  of  the  treaty  between  the  king  of 
Madagascar  and  the  governor  of  the  Mauritius,  was 
present  at  a  meeting  of  the  London  Missionary  Society; 
and  during  the  discussion  of  the  members  present,  he 
discovered  that  the  society  did  not  belong  to  the  esta- 
blished or  state  church.  He,  therefore,  repaired  to 
Carlton-House,  to  inquire  of  the  king  if  he  approved 
of  such  men  sending  out  missionaries  to  the  island  of 
Madagascar  ? 

The  British  monarch  replied,  that  although  the 
society  did  not  belong  to  his  established  church,  yet 
that  they  agreed  with  it  in  all  the  essentials  of  reli- 


PERSECUTING    IHSHOrS.  93 

gioii,  differing  only  in  circumstantials ;  that  they 
would  send  out  quite  proper  missionaries,  and  that 
any  kindness  shown  by  the  king  of  Madagascar  to 
the  missionaries  of  the  London  society,  he,  George 
the  fourth,  would  consider  as  a  personal  obligation 
to  himself 

But  the  tolerant  spirit  of  William  of  Orange,  and 
of  all  the  members  of  the  house  of  Hanover,  during 
so  many  generations,  has  not  yet  taught  the  established 
liierarchy  to  abstain  from  persecution.  In  the  month 
of  August,  1820,  an  English  bishop  drove  a  curate 
out  of  his  diocese  for  the  crime  of  evangelism,  in 
preaching  the  doctrines  of  the  Cross  of  Christ ;  the 
doctrines  of  the  Reformation  ;  the  doctrines  of  the 
liturgy,  articles  and  homilies  of  the  Anglican  Church  ; 
doctrines  so  humbling  to  the  pride  of  the  unregene- 
rate  heart ;  so  exclusively  glorifying  to  the  Saviour, 
as  necessarily  to  inflame  the  wrath  of  every  diocesan, 
who  sets  up  the  mystical  notion  of  baptismal  regene- 
ration, in  preference  to  the  Scriptural  tenet  of  spiritual 
conversion. 

The  following  letter  from  the  ejected  curate  breathes 
a  truly  apostolic  spirit,  which,  however  it  might  now 
be  despised  by  the  lordly  prelate  who  drove  him  out, 
may  yet  be  remembered  on  that  day,  when  both  bishop 
and  curate  will  appear  before  the  Judge  of  the  quick 
and  the  dead,  to  render  an  account  of  their  respective 
stewardships.  The  letter  was  written  in  answer  to  one 
addressed  to  the  |>ersecuted  curate  by  a  pious  layman, 
attached  to  a  dissenting  chapel,  and  who  had  made 
some  kind  tenders  of  personal  service ;  dictated  by  that 
evangelical  spirit,  which  breaks  down  the  sectarian 
barriers  that  keep  asunder  the  nominal,  formal  Chris- 
tians of  different  denominations. 

C n^  Monday,  August  ^th,  1 820. 

J.  F.  G ,  Esq. 

My  dear  Sir, — Your  kind  letter  should  not  have 
remained  so  long  unanswered,  had  I  not  been,  all  this 


SUSPENDED    CURATES. 

while,    undecided   as   to  my   destination.    I    have,    at 

length,  accepted  a  curacy  at  P ,   to  which    phice 

I  propose  removing  with  my  family,  in  about  three 
weeks.  My  new  rector  is .  The  duty,  I  be- 
lieve, is  very  considerable,  and  the  salary  one  hundred 
pounds  (four  hundred  and  forty-four  dollars  and  forty- 
four  cents)  a  year,  without  a  house ;  but  on  many  ac- 
counts I  rejoice  at  the  prospect  before  me,  and  cannot 
but  see  and  acknowledge  the  good  hand  of  my  God 

upon  me,  in  removing  me  from   O to  a  place  of 

greater  labour  and  trust  in  the  Lord's  vineyard. 

I  was  becoming  too  much  attached  to  O ,  and 

the  many  temporal  comforts  and  kind  friends  that 
surrounded  me  there ;  and  had  long  been  making  no 
progress,  and,  consequently,  backsliding  in  spiritual 
things.  But  the  Lord  has  been  digging  about  me, 
and  loosening  my  roots,  and  transplanting  me ;  and 
all  to  make  me  bring  forth  fruit  to  the  praise  of  the 
glory  of  his  grace.  I  was  sure  the  chastisement  was 
laid  upon  me  in  love,  and  that  it  would  work  for  my 
good  in  the  end ;  and  I  am  not  disappointed ;  for  it 
has  been  the  means,  7iot,  as  some  of  my  friends  hoped, 
of  advancing  my  worldly  interests,  but  of  adding  to  my 
spiritual  blessings. 

And  now,  my  dear  sir,  I  desire  to  thank  you  for 

all  you  so  kindly  say  about  my  coming  to  £ ,  and 

for  the  truly  Christian  love  and  concern  you  express 
for  me.  I  should,  no  doubt,  have  derived  much  com- 
fort and  improvement  from  your  society,  and  others 
of  the  Lord's  people,  in  that  city ;  but  He  who  fixes 
the  bounds  of  our  habitations  has  been  pleased  to 
order  otherwise ;  and  happy  is  it  for  us  when  we  are 
taught,  and  enabled  to  choose  for  ourselves,  what  he 
chooses  for  us. 

As  moor-shooting  is  begun,  I  conclude  lord  S ~ 

is  in  S ,  and  shall  therefore  enclose  this  to  him  at 

A castle.  He  is  much  in  my  prayers ;  he  is  re- 
membered in  my  poor  way,  and  commended  to  Him, 
who  is  able  to  make  all   grace   abound    to   his  dear 


SUSPENDED    CURATES.  95 

children.     I   trust   dear    lord   S is   in   that  happy 

number  ;  but  what  a  snare  are  rank,  and  riches,  and 
health,  and  strength,  and  spirits !  Still  grace  will 
overcome  where  it  is  given ;  and  even  consecrate  all 
these  to  the  Master's  use.  I  have  some  hopes,  and 
many  fears  about  him.  How  happy  should  I  be  to 
hear  of  his  being,  decidedly,  a  follower  of  the  Lamb, 
and  no  longer  halting  between  two  opinions. 

IMrs.  C desires  to  unite  in  kind  Christian  re- 
gard to  you  and  yours,  with,  my  dear  sir,  very  truly 
and  affectionately,  your's  in  the  Lord  Jesus, 

S C . 

In  1821,  an  English  bishop,  well  known  for  his  theo- 
logical opinions  and  lucubrations,  condescended  to 
assign  his  reasons  for  casting  a  curate  out  of  his  dio- 
cese ;  a  condescension  not  often  practised  by  the  An- 
glican hierarchy,  who  generally  suspend  the  clerical 
stipendiaries  without  deigning  to  say  for  what  cause, 
save  their  own  sovereign  will. 

In  the  summer  of  1831,   Mr.  M was  sent  for 

by  his  diocesan,  and  ordered  to  quit  his  curacy  instant- 
ly, and  never  again  to  preach  within  the  diocese  of 
L — — -,  because  he  had  been  guilty  of  three  irregu- 
larities ;  to  wit :  preaching  from  notes,  interfering  with 
the  parish  singers,  and  reading  prayers  in  an  unconse- 
crated  place. 

In  self-defence  the  poor  curate  urged,  that  preaching 
from  notes  was  neither  uncanonical,  nor  unscriptural ; 
that  it  was  long  the  habit  of  the  church  of  England, 
subsequent  to  the  Reformation  ;  and  that  Charles  the 
second  himself  had  issued  his  proclamation  against 
the  clergy  reading  their  sermons,  as  an  irreverent, 
lazy,  slovenly  custom.  That  he  had  only  so  far 
interfered  with  the  parish  singers,  as  to  induce  them 
to  desist  from  using  light,  jiggish,  frivolous  tunes  ; 
and  to  adopt  graver,  and  more  solemn  airs.  That,  in 
consequence  of  some  very  aged  and  infirm  women, 
who  lived  at'  the  extremity  of  the  scattered,  straggling 
parish  he   served,     being  unable  to   come  to  church, 


96  POWER    OF    lilSHOPS. 

he  had  read  the  prayers,  and  expounded  the  scriptures 
to  tliem  in  a  private  room  contiguous  to  their  dwell- 
ings. 

The  hishop  replied,  that  he  would  suffer  no  curates 
to  preach  in  his  diocese,  unless  they  read  either  written 
or  printed  sermons  ;  that  he  would  not  have  the  psalms 
sung  to  any  raethodistical  tunes  ;  and  that  he  would, 
on  no  account,  permit  the  church  service  to  he  per- 
formed in  an  unconsecrated  place.  For  which  reasons, 
Mr.  INI was  suspended  from  his  curacy,  and  pro- 
hibited from  ev^j^gain  acting  as  curate  in  the  diocese 
of  L .  ^ 

In  the  spring  of  1822,  the  Rev.  Mr.  S— —  was  in- 
vited   to    officiate    as    minister    at  a  chapel  recently 

erected  in  B ,  under  the  late  act   of  parliament  for 

building  new  churches.  Mr.  S.  waited  upon  the  bi- 
shop of  the  diocese  in  which  the  chapel  stood,  to 
know  when  his  lordship  would  give  him  a  license. 
The  prelate,  a  younger  branch  of  a  noble  house,  and 
illustrious  in  himself  for  nothing  so  much  as  his  perfect 
hatred  of  all  evangelism,  said,  that  unless  he  would 
promise  never  to  visit  or  pray  by  the  sick  in  the 
parish  where  the  new  chapel  stood,  he  should  not 
be  licensed. 

The  presentee  answered,  that  he  could  not,  in  con- 
science, make  such  a  promise,  because  he  considered 
it  an  important  part  of  a  Christian  minister's  duty  to 
visit,  and  pray  for  and  with  the  sick  and  the  afflicted. 
Whereupon  the  bishop  said, — "  then  I  will  not  license 
you ;  and,  to  tell  you  the  truth,  I  am  glad  to  get  rid  of 
you  at  any  rate." 

Mr.  S — - — ,  accordingly,  did  7iot  obtain  a  license  ; 
and  the  chapel  is  now  possessed  by  a  formal,  secular 
incumbent,  after  his  diocesan's  own  heart. 

Is  the  full,  arbitrary,  unresponsible  power,  given 
by  the  legislature  to  the  Anglican  bishops,  of  sus- 
pending curates  ;  of  refusing  to  countersign  the  testi- 
monials of  presentees ;  of  denying  licenses  to  sup- 
ply new  chapels ;  peculiarly  calculated  to  render 
the  English    established    church  an   effectual  instru- 


IIF.V.    I.    1'.    JOXTIS.  97 

mcnt,  to  (liifuse  religion  tlu-ougliout  the  countiy,  and 
to  stop  the  progress  of  heathenism  and  infidelity  ?  Let 
the  question  be  answered  by  the  actual  state  and  con- 
duct of  the  great  body  of  the  clergy  and  laity  of  that 
church,  now,  after  nearly  three  hundred  years  trial  of 
the  experiment. 

The  arbitrary  power  given  by  the  British  govern- 
ment to  its  bishops,  and  their  abuse  of  that  power, 
call  forth  the  following  animadversions  of  the  Chris- 
tian Observer  of  1820.  Be  it  noted,  that  the  Christian 
Observer  is  both  a  competent,  and  a  credible  w'itness 
on  this  occasion  ;  for  he  is  by  far  the  most  powerful  ad- 
vocate for  the  Anglican  Church  and  state  eetablish- 
ment,  that  has  yet  appeared ;  if  we  except  Mr.  Wilks's 
elaborate  and  able  work. 

^Ve  cannot,  says  the  Christian  Observer,  pass  over 
a  circumstance,  which  has  undergone  discussion  in  the 
house  of  lords,  and  which  is  of  alarming  importance, 
not  only  to  the  clergy,  but  to  every  one  connected  with 
ecclesiastical  property ;  or  who  values,  either  the  wel- 
fare of  the  church  of  England,  or  the  liberty  of  the 
subject. 

A  petition  was  presented  by  the  Rev.  I.  P.  Jones, 
curate  of  North  Bovey,  Devonshire,  stating  that  he 
had  been  presented  to  two  livings,  value,  500/.  per 
annum ;  one  in  the  diocese  of  Peterborough,  the 
other  in  that  of  Lincoln ;  that  he  had  procured  a 
regular  testimonial,  signed  by  three  clergymen,  in 
the  diocese  where  he  officiated;  which  testimonial 
should  be  counte7\signed  by  his  diocesan,  bishop  of 
Exeter,  who  refused ;  whence  the  preferment  was 
lost  to  the  petitioner,  it  being  necessary  to  present 
the  livings  to  another  clergyman,  to  prevent  their 
lapsing  to  the  bishops  of  the  dioceses,  where  they  were 
situated. 

JNIr.  Jones  surmised,  that  bishop  Pelham's  refusal 
was  owing  to  his  having  attended  a  public  meeting 
in  favour  of  catholic  emancipation.  The  bishop, 
however,  subsequently,  intimated,  that  he  refused  his 
counter  signature,  because  Mr.  Jones  at  that  meeting 

H 


98  COUNTER    SIGNATURE. 

said  that  nine-tenths  of  the  clergy  disliked  the  dam- 
natory clauses  in  the  Athanasiau  creed,  and  would 
rejoice  if  they  were  expunged. 

Now,  whether  this  be  true  or  false,  two  points  of 
this  case  are  alarming ;  first,  that  the  bishop  rests  his 
justification  on  his  discretionary  right  to  refuse  his 
signature,  without  assigning  a  reason.  Secondly,  that 
relying  on  some  private,  and  ex  i^arte  communication, 
he  would  not  permit  Mr.  Jones  to  explain  his  words, 
which,  he  said,  had  been  misrepresented  ;  nor  to  pro- 
duce counter  testimony. 

Thus,  then,  all  the  ecclesiastical  patronage  in 
England,  rests  on  the  will,  nay,  on  the  caprice,  the 
prejudice,  the  pique,  the  political  bias,  or  partial  in- 
formation of  an  individual.  The  lord  chancellor, 
Eldon,  himself,  who  advocated  the  bishop's  right  and 
power  so  to  act,  without  assigning  any  cause,  has  no 
security,  that  the  next  clerk,  whom  he  presents  to  a 
living,  provided  he  happen  to  be  evangelical,  may 
not  be  rejected  for  want  of  a  bishop's  counter  signa- 
ture. 

This   counter  signature   has  hitherto  been  deemed 
an  official  act,  the  refusal  of  which  subjected  a  pre- 
late to  a  civil  action  ;  but  as  the  law  noxv  stands,  he 
may  refuse  ;    and  when  the  living,  to  which  a  clergy- 
man is  presented,    lies  in  a  diocese  different  from  that 
where  he  resides,  neither  he,    nor  the  patron,  has  any 
remedy.      As  the  house  of  lords  refused  to  inquire 
into  the  subject,  who  can  predict  to  what  extent  this 
new  system  of  stet  pro  ratione  voluntas  may  be  carried  ? 
It  is  surprising  that  the  upper  house,    generally  such 
vigilant  and   zealous  guardians  of  the  rights    of  pro- 
perty  and   patronage,     should   have  so  slumbered   in 
this  business.     Are  the  great  hereditary  patrons  pre- 
pared to  see  their  clerical  nominees  arbitrarily  rejected, 
and  the  money  value    of  their  church  patronage  re- 
duced in  the  market,  for  the  sale  and  barter  of  church 
livings? 

The  English  bishops,    at  present,  possess  a  discre- 
tionary,    arbitrary    authority,    intrusted   to   no   other 


CHURCH    PERU..  99 

order  of  men  in  the  British  empire;  an  authority, 
utterly  inconsistent  with  the  liberties  of  the  subordinate 
clergy,  and  the  good  government  of  the  state  church. 
We  shall  never  cease  to  protest,  v.hether  as  to  cu- 
rates or  incumbents,  against  this  unwise  and  in- 
jurious system,  which  tends  to  convert  every  episcopal 
palace,  in  England,  into  an  inquisition,  or  a  star 
chamber,  or  a  whispering  gallery,  and  renders  every 
clergyman  in  the  establishment  liable  to  become  the 
victim  of  a  secret  calumny,  or  an  unauthenticated 
slander. 

At  least,  let  the  Anglican  bishops  be  constrained  to 
state  the  crime,  to  name  the  accuser,  to  produce  the 
evidence.  It  is  too  much  to  presume  of  any  order  of 
men,  certes,  of  men  made  bishops  by  political  patrons, 
on  account  of  borough  influence,  or  family  connexion, 
or  personal  favour ;  in  a  word,  any  cause,  save  that  of 
evangelical  piety ;  that  they  never  will  be  warped, 
or  prejudiced,  or  misinformed.  Even  where  they 
happen  to  act  rightly  in  the  exercise  of  their  arbitrary 
unresponsible  power,  the  benefit  of  example  is  lost 
to  the  clergy,  and  the  public,  for  want  of  their  reasons 
being  assigned ;  if  they  act  wrongly,  the  sufferer 
must  pine  in  hopeless  submission;  having  no  legal 
right  to  demand  what  is  his  offence,  or  who  are  his 
accusers  ? 

The  English  public  is  becoming  interested,  as  well 
it  might,  in  this  question  ;  and  some  modifications, 
both  as  to  curates  and  incumbents,  will  be  urgently 
proposed.  Let  the  episcopal  bench,  therefore,  do  for 
themselves,  what  ruder  hands  may  otherwise  do,  even- 
tually, for  them.  In  the  present  state  of  things,  they 
ought  not  to  wish  to  retain  powers,  which  only  tend, 
and  most  justly,  to  render  themselves  and  their  functions 
unpopular  and  odious,  without  benefiting  either  religion, 
or  the  established  church. 

But  the  universal  page  of  history  teaches   us   that 
neither    secular  governments,   nor  state  churches,  are 
apt  to  mend,  or  reform  themselves.     Yet  the  Angli- 
can Church  will  do  well,    at  the  present  crisis,   to  ra- 
il 2 


001  POPUI.AR    OPINION. 

member  what  the  ekler  Pitt  toltl  the  house  of  lords,  not 
long  before  he  died,  and  left  his  mantle  to  his  illustri- 
ous son — ^"that  unless  they  reformed  themselves  from 
wit/mi,  the  people  would  reform  them  from  without, 
with  a  vengeance." 

It  is  high  time  for  the  formal,  secular  clergy,  in  the 
Anglican  Establishment,  whether  bishops,  priests,  or 
deacons,  to  learn,  that  in  the  existing  feverish  condition 
of  the  world,  popular  opinion  is  more  powerful  than  the 
coalesced  bayonets  of  allied  sovereigns ;  and  that  the 
church  of  England  cannot  long  exist,  malgre  her  politi- 
cal prop  in  the  civil  government,  unless  she  resorts 
to  some  other  means  of  support,  than  the  persecution 
of  all  evangelical  doctrine  and  practice,  urged  with 
such  unrelenting  zeal,  by  the  great  body  of  the  state 
clergy ;  from  the  lordly  prelate,  who  drives  curates 
from  his  diocese,  and  refuses  his  counter  signatures, 
and  denies  his  licenses,  alike,  without  deigning  to  as- 
sign any  cause,  save  his  own  arbitrary  will ;  down 
to  the  most  senseless  ecclesiastical  scribbler,  who 
pelts  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  with  piti- 
able pamphlets. 

If  it  were  possible  for  persecuting  formalists  to  profit 
by  Christian  instruction,  I  would  recommend  to  the 
perusal  of  those  high  Anglican  Church  functionaries, 
who  are  always  procinct  to  drive  from  out  their  cleri- 
cal dominions  every  established  clergyman,  who  happens 
to  preach  the  gospel  faithfully,  the  following  observa- 
tions from  Mr.  T.  H.  Home,  the  distinguished 
author  of  an  "  Introduction  to  the  critical  study  and 
knowledge  of  the  holy  Scriptures." 

In  his  section  on  scripture  parables,  Mr.  Home 
says,  the  parable  of  the  tares.  Matt.  xiii.  24,  et  seq. 
refers  to  the  mixture  of  the  wicked  with  the  good  in 
this  world ;  when,  tlicrefore,  our  Lord  intimated  in 
verses  27 — 29,  that  it  is  not  our  province  to  judge 
those  wliom  He  has  reserved  for  his  own  tribunal ; 
and  in  the  30th  verse  added,  let  them  both  grow  to- 
gether ;     he    evidently  implied,    that   since   God    to- 


INTOLERANCE.  101 

Icrates  incorrigible  sinners,  it  is  the  duty  of  men  to 
bear  with  them  ;  the  propagation  of  false  doctrines  is  an 
offence  against  God,  who  alone  is  the  jndge  and  punisher 
of  them  ;  man  has  no  right  to  punish  his  brethren  for 
their  sentiments. 

How  much,  a  fortiori,  is  this  position  applicable, 
when  the  doctrines  promulgated  are  true;  as  in  the 
case  of  the  evangelical  clergy  in  the  church  of  Eng- 
land, whose  preaching,  their  formal  brethren  in  the 
establishment  so  incessantly  labour  to  stifle  in  eternal 
silence  ? 

ISIr.  Home,  also,  cites  the  following  explicit  decla- 
ration of  the  learned  Viser,  a  popish  writer,  who,  in 
his  Hermeneutica  Sacra,  referring  to  this  parable, 
says,— ^facile  apparet,  eos  hide  preccpto  nequaquam 
satisfacere,  qui  vi,  metu,  ac  minis,  liomines  student  a 
sua  religione  ahducere.  Here,  then,  is  an  instance  of 
a  papist  breathing  a  more  tolerant  Christian  spirit,  than 
some  of  the  present  generation  of  English  protestant 
bishops. 

Bishop  Burnet,  in  his  coronation  sermon,  preached 
before  AV^illiam  and  Mary,  when  they  were  crowned, 
made,  among  other  valuable  observations,  the  following 
remarks,  worthy  to  be  recorded  for  the  edification  of  all 
those,  who,  in  this  late  age  of  the  world,  still  worship, 
with  heart,  and  tongue,  and  hand,  the  demon  of  religious 
intolerance. 

To  put  the  frailties  of  men,  says  the  good  bishop, 
to  trials,  in  their  obedience,  that  are  above  human 
patience ;  to  exact  of  them  that  which  is  either  im- 
possible or  unreasonable ;  and  to  carry  this  rule  too 
far  into  that  which  is  God's  immediate  province,  I 
mean  men's  consciences ;  all  this  is  not  the  ruling  over 
men,  either  as  men  or  as  Christians.  God  himself 
has  made  his  yoke  easy ;  and  therefore,  those  who 
can  pretend  no  higher  than  to  be  his  vicegerents, 
should  not  exceed  those  limits,  within  which  the 
Author  of  our  being  has  restrained  himself.  Undue 
impositions,   and   unrelenting   severities,  or  rigour,  in 


102  LIFSIUS. 

commanding,  and  a  cruelty  in  punishing,  must  find 
patterns  elsewhere  than  in  God's  governing  the  world, 
or  Christ's  governing  the  church. 

If,  indeed,  all  civil  governments  were  as  wise,  in 
respect  to  the  toleration  of  religious  opinions,  as  the 
states  of  Holland  exhibited  themselves,  in  answer  to  a 
request  of  Lipsius,  Christendom  would,  even  now,  pre- 
sent a  far  different  face  from  any  which  she  has  yet  been 
enabled  to  wear,  during  the  whole  period  of  her  ex- 
istence. 

The  erudite  and  consistent  Lipsius  wrote  a  book 
on  steadfastness,  and  changed  his  own  religious  creed 
four  times.  In  his  work  on  politics,  however,  he  as- 
serted, that  only  one  religion  ought  to  be  tolerated  in 
a  state,  and  that  all  who  would  not  conform  to  the 
established  church,  should  receive  no  other  mercy 
than  that  of  fire  and  sword.  Cernheert  refuted  these 
intolerant  and  impious  tenets ;  which  produced  a  large 
crop  of  controversies,  to  the  great  discomfiture  of  Lip- 
sius, who,  like  other  formalists  and  bigots,  preferring 
persecution  to  argument,  requested  the  issuing  a  man- 
date, to  prohibit  the  refutation  of  his  own  book  on 
politics. 

The  Dutch  rulers  replied  to  his  petition  thus: — 
"  either  the  asserted  principles  are  true,  and  cannot  be 
refuted  ;  or  false,  and  the  state  can  expect  no  injury 
from  such  a  discovery." 

But  really  religious  people  are  sometimes  prone 
to  persecute  those  who  dissent  from  their  creed. 
This  is,  indeed,  a  lamentable  truth,  and  so  far  as 
pious  people  indulge  themselves  in  persecution,  they 
contradict  both  the  spirit  and  the  letter  of  that 
blessed  religion,  which  they  profess  to  believe  and 
to  uphold.  It  affords,  also,  an  important  practical 
inference,  that  if  even  religious  and  well  educated 
persons  be  prepense  to  persecute,  whenever  they 
possess  the  power;  what  are  we  to  expect  from  ir- 
religious, ignorant  formalists?  Which  is,  in  itself, 
a  potent  reason  why  no  sect  or  portion  of  the  Chris- 
tian church  should  be  so  linked  with  the  civil  govern- 


DEFKNDKR    OF    THE    FAITH.  103 

meiit,  as  to  be  able  to  gratify  its  appetite  for  intolerance 
and  oppression. 

AV^hen  Luther  began  his  tremendous  battery  from 
the  press  against  popery,  Henry  the  eighth,  king  of 
England,  undertook  to  refute  the  heresy  of  the  Saxon 
reformer.  But  as  there  is  no  royal  road  to  theology, 
more  than  to  mathematics,  Henry  was  very  roughly 
handled  by  Martin's  superior  talents  and  learning. 
As  a  set-off,  however,  for  this  lamentable  defeat,  the 
pope  conferred  upon  him  the  title  of  defender  of  the 
faith;  a  title  worn  by  all  succeeding  British  sove- 
reigns, and  signally  merited  by  those  illustrious  wor- 
thies, the  Stuarts ;  from  the  first  James  to  Anne,  both 
inclusive. 

This  first  English  defender  of  the  faith,  having 
quarrelled  with  the  pope,  for  not  countenancing  his 
divorce  from  Catharine  of  Arragon,  and  his  marriage 
with  Ann  Boleyn,  set  up  for  a  reformer ;  renounced 
all  connexion  with  the  bishop  of  Rome,  and  declared 
himself  the  supreme  head  of  the  church  in  England. 
Accordingly,  he  manifested  his  ecclesiastical  impar- 
tiality by  butchering  alike  both  protestants  and  pa- 
pists. He  published  the  six  Articles,  generally  called 
the  bloody  bill,  as  containing  the  creed  of  his  esta- 
blished church.  This  law  enacted  transubstantiation, 
purgatory,  clerical  celibacy,  and  auricular  confession. 
At  one  time  he  burned  half  a  dozen  papists  and  pro- 
testants together ;  the  protestants  for  believing  less, 
the  ])apists  for  believing  more,  than  this  law  of  the  state 
church  allowed. 

At  length  Henry  closed  a  life  of  lust  and  blood, 
and  now  awaits  his  final  doom  at  the  bar  of  that  Judge 
of  the  quick  and  the  dead,  who  awards  only  righteous 
judgment. 

His  throne  was  filled  by  the  saintly  Edward,  when 
only  a  child  of  nine  years;  and  the  lord  protector, 
Seymour,  and  archbishop  Cranmer  governed  Eng- 
land in  his  name.  The  prptestant  exiles  returned 
to  their  country  ;  and  some  celebrated  foreign  divines, 
as  Peter   Martyr,   Bucer,   Fagius  and  Ochinus,   were 


104  READING    SE113I0XS. 

invited  to  take  protcssorsliips  in  the  English  univer- 
sities. The  king's  injunctions  were  published,  or- 
dering every  parish  to  procure  an  English  Bible,  and 
every  clergyman  to  provide  himself  with  a  New  Tes- 
tament in  Latin  and  English,  with  the  paraphrase  of 
Erasmus. 

Preachers  were  appointed  to  make  circuits  through 
the  kingdom,  to  expound  the  Scriptures,  and  pro- 
claim the  Gospel  truths.  An  English  liturgy  was 
framed,  containing  a  large  portion  of  the  Scriptures ; 
and  a  new  book  of  homilies  was  published;  whence 
is  supposed  to  have  originated  the  custom  of  reading, 
instead  of  preaching  sermons ;  a  custom  peculiar  to 
England,  of  all  the  European  nations.  In  the  Chris- 
tian Observer  for  1804,  the  respective  advantages 
and  disadvantages  of  extempore  preaching  and  ser- 
mon-reading are  ably  and  judiciously  examined  and 
balanced. 

The  English  reformers  had  been  bred  in  too  per- 
secuting a  school  to  understand  the  nature  of  Chris- 
tian toleration  and  charity  ;  duties  which  popery  has 
always  laboured  to  exterminate  from  among  men,  by 
fire  and  sword.  The  use  of  the  book  of  common 
prayer,  and  administration  of  the  sacraments,  al- 
though never  laid  before  the  convocation,  and  op- 
posed by  the  popish  bishops,  was  enforced  by  severe 
pains  and  penalties.  This  book  was  considered  by 
some  eminent  protestant  divines,  to  retain  too  much 
of  the  popish  odour;  and  the  papists  themselves  v/ere 
persecuted  for  objecting  to  it,  as  setting  forth  new  and 
heretical  opinions. 

The  great  body  of  the  people,  who  had  been  sys- 
tematically kept  down  in  mental  darkness,  in  full  ac- 
cordance with  the  popish  maxim,  that  ignora7ice  is  the 
mother  of  devotion,  were  exceedingly  attached  to 
the  wakes,  processions  and  holidays,  prescribed  by 
the  common  prayer  book ;  and  the  Romish  priests 
inflamed  them  by  their  pulpit  effusions,  and  incited 
them  to  arms.     In  Devonshire  and   Norfolk   the  rab- 


UNPRF. ACHING    BISHOPS.  105 

ble  raised  an  hisunection,  to  compel  the  government 
to  ])rohibit  the  use  of  the  English  Bible,  and  prayer- 
book,  and  the  sacramental  cup. 

Latimer  and  Hooper  laboured  incessantly  to  preach 
the  gospel  throughout  their  benighted  country,  but 
the  great  majority  of  the  English  hierarchy  were  wo- 
fully  remiss  in  their  duty ;  since  it  was  necessary  to 
issue  an  order,  requiring  the  bishops  to  preach  at  least 
four  times  a  year.  An  order,  nearly,  as  necessary  to 
stimulate  the  zeal  of  the  present  race  of  -w/ipreaching 
bishops  in  England,  as  it  was,  during  the  reign  of  the 
sixth  Edward. 

So  little  was  the  real  spirit  of  Christianity  under- 
stood by  the  Enghsh  reformers,  that  they  actually  si- 
lenced Hooper,  tlie  most  able,  the  most  laborious,  and 
the  most  popular  preacher  among  them  all,. because  he 
declined  wearing  the  popish  vestments ;  nor  was  he 
consecrated  a  bishop  until  he  submitted.  Thus  early 
did  persecution  lay  the  basis  of  sepai^ation  from  the 
church  of  England. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  reformation,  those 
who  wished  to  render  the  English  church  still  farther 
removed  from  the  secular  spirit,  and  the  cumbersome 
ceremonials  of  popery,  than  the  protestant  leaders 
thought  necessary,  were  stigmatized  as  puritans;  and 
driven  out  of  the  establishment. j^  .  After  the  act  of 
uniformity  w-as  passed  by  CharW  the  second,  such 
men  were  called  nonconformists ;  and  when  the  tole- 
ration act  was  established,  under  William  of  Orange, 
they  were  denominated  dissenters.  These  names  were 
originally  used  as  terms  of  reproach  ;  for  persecution, 
invariably,  adds  calumny  to  cruelty.  During  the  first 
ages  of  our  era,  Christianity  was  the  emphatic  term 
'  of  reproach,  and  furnished  to  the  pagan  persecutor  a 
sufficient  substitute  for  evidence,  and  argument,  and 
eloquence,  and  wit.  AVhen  church  and  state  had 
formed  an  inseparable  alliance,  and  an  irreligious  world 
assumed  the  name  of  Christian,  the  persecutors  of 
evangelical  piety  honoured  the  faithful  servants  of  their 


106  JOAN    OF    KENT. 

Redeemer  with  the  various  appellations  of  Lollard, 
puritan,  pietist,  gospeller,  methodist,  swaddler,  Cal- 
vinist,  and  so  forth. 

The  English  reformers  seemed  to  think  that  the  aid 
of  the  secular  arm  was  necessary,  to  enable  them  to 
propagate  protestantism.  Accordingly,  a  royal  com- 
mission was  granted,  to  search  out  all  anabaptists, 
heretics,  and  other  contemners  of  the  new  liturgy. 
Among  others  found  guilty,  was  Joan  Boucher,  or 
Joan  of  Kent,  for  heretical  notions  concerning  the 
Incarnation  ;  and  as  she  refused  to  alter  her  opinions, 
Cranmer  condemned  her  to  the  flames.  But  Edward, 
who  appears  to  have  had  clearer  views  of  Christian 
truth  and  charity  than  his  clerical  advisers,  when 
pressed  by  the  archbishop  to  sign  the  warrant  for  burn- 
ing this  woman  alive,  cried  out,  "  What,  will  you  send 
her  quick  to  the  devil?"  And  when,  at  length,  he 
reluctantly  yielded  to  Cranmer's  solicitations,  he  burst 
into  tears,  and  protested,  that  his  tutor  should  answer 
for  it  before  God ;  as,  in  obedience  to  him,  he  sub- 
mitted, contrary  to  his  own  inclination. 

The  anabaptists,  now  called  baptists,  were  perse- 
cuted by  all  the  primitive  protestants.  Luther  opened 
against  them,  with  his  wonted  vehemence  and  ability ; 
and  other  reformers  followed  his  example.  And  when 
the  baptists  were  found  proof  against  argument,  the 
protestants  employed  the  popish  method  of  reason- 
ing ;  and  called  for  the  exterminating  aid  of  the  secu- 
lar sw^ord. 

Some  of  these  unfortunate  people,  having  escaped 
from  the  flames  on  the  European  continent,  fled  to 
England ;  hoping  for  safety  there,  in  consequence  of 
Henry's  quarrel  with  the  pope.  But  in  153.5,  Henry 
burned  alive  fourteen  Hollanders,  on  an  accusation 
of  anabaptism  ;  and  ten  more  escaped  a  similar 
death  by  a  timely  recantation.  In  1539,  thirty  per- 
sons were  banished  at  one  time,  for  opposing  infant 
baptism.  They  fled  to  Delft,  in  Holland,  then  un- 
der the  yoke  of  the  Emperor  Charles,  who  beheaded 
the    men,    and    drowned    the    women ;    as    became  a 


ANABAPTISTS.  107 

true  son,  and  a  stanch  supporter  of  the  Roman  su- 
perstition. 

During  the  reign  of  Edward  the  sixth,  Cranmer 
"vvas  at  the  head  of  that  protestant  inquisition,  which 
was  first  to  attempt  the  conversion  of  anabaptists,  by 
dint  of  argument ;  faiUng  which,  the  flames  of  death 
were  to  conckide  their  Christian  efforts. 

Edward  died  in  155ii,  in  the  sixteenth  year  of  his 
age,  and  the  seven tli  of  his  reign.  Bishop  Burnet, 
in  his  history  of  the  reformation,  says — the  untimely 
end  of  this  good  prince  was  looked  upon,  by  all  peo- 
ple, as  a  just  judgment  of  God,  upon  those  who  pre- 
tended to  love  and  promote,  but  whose  impious  and 
flagitious  lives  were  a  reproach  to  a  reformation.  The 
open  lewdness  in  which  many  lived,  without  shame 
or  remorse,  gave  great  occasion  to  their  adversaries 
to  say,  they  were  in  the  right  to  assert  justification 
by  faith,  without  works,  since  they  were,  as  to  every 
good  work,  reprobate.  Their  gross  and  insatiable 
scrambling  after  the  goods  and  wealth  that  had  been 
dedicated  to  good  designs,  though  to  superstitious  uses, 
without  applying  any  part  of  it  to  the  promoting  the 
Gospel,  the  instructing  the  youth,  and  relieving  the 
poor,  made  all  people  conclude,  that  it  was  for  roh- 
bery,  and  not  for  reformation,  that  their  zeal  made 
them  so  active. 

Probably,  had  Edward  lived,  the  English  reforma- 
tion would  have  been  carried  to  a  greater  distance 
from  the  complicated  machinery,  and  cumbrous  pomp 
of  popery,  and  approximated  nearer  to  the  clerical  sim- 
plicity of  primitive  Christianity.  Certainly,  after  the 
death  of  this  truly  evangelical  monarch,  the  reforma- 
tion of  the  established  church  was  retrograde ;  as  well, 
under  the  successors  of  Mary,  as  during  the  reign  of 
that  horrible  woman  herself. 

It  does  not  appear,  that  the  conversion,  or  spiritual 
regeneration  of  the  English  people  was  very  exten- 
sive. Some  of  the  leading  men,  both  clerical  and 
lay,  were  in  earnest  in  their  reformation  from  popery  ; 
as  was   manifested   in    their   soon    after    yielding   up 


108  PROTESTANT    MARTYRS. 

their  living  bodies  to  be  burned,  rather  tlian  renounce 
their  faith,  and  declare  their  belief  in  a  satanic 
lie.  But  to  the  great  body  of  the  people,  it  was 
little  more  than  a  change  of  political  system,  from 
one  state  church  to  another.  An  immense  majority 
of  all  ranks,  both  clergy  and  laity,  were  either  papists 
or  protestants,  Calvinists  or  Lutherans,  high  or  low 
churchmen,  as  the  existing  government  measured  out 
to  them  their  legal  allowance  of  established  faith 
and  practice.  In  many  parishes,  the  clergy  could 
not,  in  others,  they  would  not,  preach  ;  in  most  of 
them,  they  were  papists  at  heart,  and  yet,  conscien- 
tiously, retained  their  benefices  under  a  protcstant 
establishment. 

Under  the  bloody  Mary,  the  leading  English  re- 
formers evidenced  their  faith  to  be  of  the  right  kind, 
however  much  they  erred,  while  possessing  power, 
in  persecuting  those,  who  differed  from  them  in  doc- 
trine, discipline,  or  dress.  When  Cranmer,  Latimer, 
Hooper,  Ridley,  and  others,  ever  to  be  revered  mar- 
tyrs, passed  through  the  flames  to  heaven,  the  burn- 
ing of  their  bodies  did,  indeed,  kindle  a  light,  which, 
by  the  grace  of  God,  none  of  the  enemies  of  pure, 
evangelical,  vital  religion,  have  been  able  to  extin- 
guish. 

The  number  of  protestant  martyrs,  during  JNIary's 
reign,  is  computed  at  two  hundred  and  eighty ;  in- 
cluding twenty-six'  clergymen,  of  whom  five  were 
bishops.  It  ought  not  to  excite  surprise,  that  so  few 
clergy  suffered;  for  a  national,  established,  state  clergy, 
as  such,  are  seldom  ambitious  of  martyrdom.  The 
greater  part  of  them  must,  always,  ex  necessitate  I'ei, 
be  irreligious,  secular  formalists ;  to  whom  the  ruling 
power,  and  the  prevailing  religion,  can  never  fail  to 
present  the  charms  of  orthodoxy. 

Even  at  this  hour,  when  nearly  three  centuries 
have  rolled  by  their  tide  of  time  since  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Reformation,  a  very  fearful  majority  of 
the  clergy  in  the  Anglican  Church  establishment  are 
merely  formal ;  and  not  contented  witli  never  preach- 


HEFOllMATION    IMPERFECT.  109 

iiig  tlic  Gospel  themselves,  invariably,  to  the  extent  of 
their  capacity  and  power,  persecute  the  comparatively 
few  among  their  clerical  brethren,  who  conscientiously 
perform  the  duties  of  their  sacred  function.  These 
evangelical  ministers  are  continually  reproached,  as 
being  "  methodists,  calvinists,  vital  godliness  men, 
righteous  over  much,  sectaries  in  disguise ;"  and  I  know 
not  what  else. 

Every  effort  is  made  by  the  formal  faction  to  pre- 
vent such  men  from  obtaining  holy  orders  ;  to  starve 
them  when  ordained ;  and  to  hold  them  up  to  the  exe- 
cration of  an  irreligious  community,  by  every  species  of 
misrepresentation  and  abuse.  The  labours  of  Tomline, 
INIarsh,  Daubeny,  and  many  others,  are  notable  instances 
of  the  unjustifiable  lengths,  to  which  a  controversial  and 
a  party  spirit  will  carry  even  regular  ministers  of  the 
Christian  sanctuary. 

These  men,  however,  understand  their  business ; 
and  seem  to  be  well  aware  of  the  force  of  the  reply 
made  by  the  arch  calumniator,  in  Alexander's  court, 
to  the  question,  "  why  do  you  perpetually  calumniate 
men  whom  you  know  to  be  honest,  since  such  calumny 
must  be  harmless,  as  to  them,  and  recoil  upon  your 
own  head?"  His  answer  was,  "  calumny,  continu- 
alljj  repeated,  is  like  a  deep  wound  ;  the  wound  itself 
may  be  healed,  but  there  always  remains  behind  a 
sca?\" 

These  tactics  are  in  general  requisition  against 
beneficed  evangelicals ;  for  curates  of  the  same  stamp 
formal  dignitaries  have  recourse  to  a  much  more  com- 
pendious method.  They  suspend  them  from  preach- 
ing ;  and  thus,  so  far  as  they  are  able,  consign  them 
to  penury  and  famine.  To  evangelical  curates,  located 
in  the  diocese  of  a  formalist  bishop,  might  be  applied 
that  fine,  though  brief  description  of  peril,  originally 
used  in  relation  to  wretches  gulphed  in  another  kind  of 
danger ;  vireo  tx  OavuToio  (j,er.ovTai ;  they  float  for  ever  on 
the  verge  of  deatli. 

Formalists,  in  these  United  States,  labour  with  the 
same  zeal  and  perseverance,  in   railing  against  evan- 


110  FORMAL    PERSECUTORS, 

gelism,  as  do  their  brethren  in  England.  For  a  form- 
alist, whether  clerical  or  lay,  is  the  same  irreligious 
being  all  over  the  world ;  and  is  actuated  by  the 
same  deadly  hatred  of  all  Christian  truth  ;  the  carnal 
mind,  the  unregenerate  heart,  being  for  ever  at  en- 
mity with  God.  But  where  there  is  iw  national  church 
establishment,  a  formalist  has  not  equal  power  to  do 
mischief;  is  not  so  strong  to  extinguish  all  vital  piety; 
seeing  that  his  formalism,  in  due  time,  only  dilutes  and 
diminishes  his  own  sect,  and  helps  to  swell  the  ranks  of 
evangelical  denominations,  by  driving  all  serious  persons 
to  them. 

For,  wherever  religion  is  left  to  find  its  own  level, 
without  the  interference  of  the  secular  government, 
to  buttress  up  one  persuasion  and  crush  the  rest, 
formalism  has  no  competency  to  cope  with  Christi- 
anity. 

It  is  manifest  to  an  observant  eye,  says  a  late  able 
writer,  that  there  is  a  deep-rooted  enmity  in  all  wick- 
ed men,  whether  pagans,  papists,  protestants  or  de- 
ists, towards  all  godly  men,  of  every  nation  and  name. 
This  enmity,  it  is  true,  is  not  suflfered  to  operate  ac- 
cording to  its  native  tendency.  He  who  holdeth  the 
winds  in  his  hand,  restrains  it.  Men  are  withheld  by 
laws,  by  policy,  by  interests,  by  education,  by  respect, 
by  regard  founded  on  other  than  religious  qualities, 
and  by  various  other  things.  There  are  certain  con- 
junctions of  interest,  especially,  which  occasionally 
require  a  temporary  cessation  of  hostilities  ;  and  it  may 
seem,  on  such  occasions,  as  if  wicked  men  were  ashamed 
of  their  animosities,  and  were  all  on  a  sudden  become 
friendly  to  the  followers  of  Christ. 

Thus,  at  the  Revolution  in  1688,  those  who  for 
more  than  twenty  years  had  persecuted  the  noncon- 
formists with  unrelenting  severity,  when  they  found 
themselves  in  danger  of  being  deprived  of  their  dig- 
nities and  emoluments  by  a  popish  prince,  courted 
their  friendship,  and  promised  to  persecute  them  no 
more.  And  thus,  at  the  commencement  of  the  French 
revolution,   deists,    papists  and  protestants,  who  were 


ARCH   CALUMNIATOR.  Ill 

engaged  in  one  political  cause,  seemed  to  have  forgotten 
their  resentments ;  all  amicably  uniting  together  in 
opening  a  place  for  protestant  worship. 

But  let  not  the  servants  of  Christ  imagine,  that  any 
temporary  conjunction  of  interests  will  extinguish  the 
ancient  enmity.  It  may  seem  to  be  so  for  a  time ;  and 
all  things  being  under  the  control  of  Providence,  such 
a  time  may  be  designed  as  a  season  of  respite  for  the 
faithful ;  but  when  self-interest  hath  gained  its  end,  if 
other  worldly  considerations  do  not  interpose,  things 
will  return  to  their  former  channel.  The  enmity  is  not 
dead,  but  sleepeth. 

On  the  death  of  Mary,  her  sister  Elizabeth  de- 
clared herself  a  protestant ;  but  dictated  the  extent 
and  mode  of  the  English  reformation.  In  the  begin- 
ning of  the  year  1559,  she  restored  the  reading  of 
Edward's  liturgy,  with  the  Epistles  and  Gospel,  in 
English.  By  act  of  parliament,  she  took  that  supre- 
macy in  the  church  of  England,  which  her  father  had 
borrowed  from  the  pope.  By  this  statute  she  was  em- 
powered to  erect  a  court,  which,  under  the  name  of  the 
High  Commission,  has  deeply  stained  the  annals  of 
England. 

In  this  court,  commissioners,  appointed  by  the 
crown,  took  cognizance  of,  proscribed  and  punished 
the  religion  of  Englishmen.  It  was  in  this  court  that 
archbishop  Laud,  whose  name  it  is  an  effort  of  Chris- 
tian forbearance  to  mention  without  an  epithet  of 
execration,  afterwards  laid  the  foundation  of  the  over- 
throw of  the  English  monarchy  and  hierarchy,  by  his 
bloody  brutality,  and  persecution  of  all  evangelical 
piety  and  truth. 

By  this  statute,  all  clerical  persons  were  obliged  to 
swear  to  Elizabeth's  supremacy ;  and  although  the 
great  body  of  the  national,  the  established  clergy,  had 
been  devout  papists  under  Mary,  only  two  hundred 
and  forty-three  were  honest  enough  to  abandon  their 
state  benefices,  rather  than  perjure  themselves.  The 
rest,  to  the  amount  of  some  thousands,  swore  them- 
selves into  substantial  protestant  livings. 


112  HIGH    COMMISSION    UNIFORMITY. 

The  reformed  themselves  now  began  to  exhibit  a 
diversity  of  sentiments.  Some  exiles  from  England, 
during  INIary's  reign,  had  formed  a  church  at  Frank- 
fort; where  they  laid  aside  the  surplice,  omitted  the 
responses  of  the  English  liturgy,  and  chose  John  Knox 
for  their  pastor.  On  the  arrival  of  other  English  re- 
fugees, one  of  them,  Dr.  Cox,  who  had  been  tutor  to 
king  Edward,  and  had  aided  in  compiling  the  liturgy, 
insisted  upon  answering  aloud  after  the  minister.  Hence 
arose  a  division  ;  Knox  and  his  party  were  driven  from 
Frankfort ;  and  Cox  and  his  adherents  soon  disagreed 
among  themselves. 

This  schism  did  not  abate  on  their  return  to  Eng- 
land, upon  the  accession  of  Elizabeth.  Edward's  litur- 
gy w^as  revised,  and  on  the  24th  of  June,  1559,  esta- 
blished by  law,  under  an  "  act  for  the  uniformity  of 
common  prayer;"  which  statute,  also,  empowered  the 
queen  to  ordain  further  ceremonies  and  rites.  This 
law,  cruelly  enforced,  convulsed  the  church  of  England, 
for  nearly  a  century  ;  covered  her  with  the  blood  of 
those  whom  it  murdered ;  and  increased  the  number  of 
those  very  dissenters  whom  it  laboured  to  exterminate 
by  the  sword  of  persecution. 

In  the  church  thus  established,  many  of  its  clergy 
were  grieved,  that  Elizabeth  had  restored  the  sur- 
plice, cope,  and  other  popish  vestments,  which  Ed- 
ward had  put  away.  These  men,  who  wished  to  see 
the  English  church  rendered  still  more  pure  from 
the  relics  of  the  Roman  superstition,  were  called 
puritans;  and  as  such,  fell  under  the  censure  and 
scourge  of  the  secular  head  of  the  church  ;  who  pub- 
lished certain  "  injiinctions,''  ordaining,  among  other 
matters,  that  priests  and  deacons  do  not  marry,  with- 
out  leave  of  their  bishop  and  two  justices  of  the 
peace ;  that  bishops  do  not  wed  without  allowance  of 
their  metropolitan,  and  the  queen's  commissioners ; 
and  that  none  keep  abused  images  or  pictures  in  their 
houses. 

So  great  an  advocate  for  liberty  of  conscience, 
and   liberty  of  action,  was  this   spinster  queen,    who 


FAMILY    PRAYEH    INJUNCTIONS.  113 

discouraged  private  and  family  prayers,  that  all  worship 
might  be  performed  within  the  consecrated  walls  of  her 
churches. 

The  convocation  sate  in  1562,  to  consider  the 
propriety  of  further  reforming  the  establishment ;  but 
nothing  was  done,  and  the  puritans  presumed  to  offi- 
ciate without  the  appointed  habits.  For  this  contu- 
macy, the  London  clergy  were  summoned  to  appear 
before  the  ecclesiastical  commission.  The  bishop's 
chancellor  addressed  them  thus  :— "  IMy  masters,  and 
ye  ministers  of  London,  the  council's  pleasure  is,  that 
■  ye  strictly  keep  the  unity  of  apparel,  like  this  man, 
(pointing  to  Mr.  Cole,  in  full  dress,)  with  a  square  cap, 
a  scholar's  gown,  priest  like,  a  tippet,  and  in  the  church, 
a  linen  surplice.  Ye  that  will  submit,  write  volo;  those 
who  will  not,  write  nolo" 

On  attempting  to  speak,  they  were  commanded  to 
hold  their  peace  ;  and  while  sixty-one,  out  of  a  hun- 
dred, reluctantly  subscribed,  thirty-seven  preferred  starv- 
ing. They  gave  in  a  paper,  containing  their  rea- 
sons; which  is  preserved  by  Neale,  in  his  history  of  the 
puritans. 

Archbishop  Parker,  and  the  ecclesiastical  commis- 
sion, caused  every  one  who  had  the  cure  of  souls,  to 
swear  obedience  to  all  the  queen's  injunctions;  to  all 
the  letters  from  the  lords  of  the  privy  council ;  to  the 
injunctions  of  the  metropolitans ;  to  the  mandates  of 
their  bishop,  archdeacons,  chancellors,  somners,  and  re- 
ceivers, and  to  be  subject  to  the  control  of  all  their 
superiors,  with  patience. 

By  such  secular  interference,  the  established 
church  was  well  nigh  cleansed  of  conscientious  cler- 
gymen. A  fourth  part  of  the  ministers  were  sus- 
pended, and  silenced,  as  puritans.  Among  these, 
were  the  principal  preachers  in  the  nation  ;  at  a  time, 
too,  when  not  one  in  ten  of  the  state  clergy  possessed 
sufficient  talents  and  learning,  to  say  nothing  of  their 
piety,  to  compose  a  very  ordinary,  and  a  very  dull 
sermon.  Many  of  the  churches,  especially  in  TiOn- 
don,  were  shut  up  ;  and  often,  when  the  congregation 

I 


114  CHURCH    VESTMENTS. 

was  assembled,  the  minister  was  forbidden  to  preach 
by  the  bishop's  runners,  sent  to  see  that  the  clergy 
dressed  like  INir.  Cole,  tippet  wise,  and  with  a  square 
cap. 

This  pitiful  persecution,  so  alien  from  the  spirit  of 
a  wise  and  good  government,  and  so  directly  tending 
to  stop  the  progress  of  religion,  roused  the  hatred  ot 
the  people  against  the  popish  habits  and  ceremonies, 
enjoined  by  Elizabeth  ;  and  they  demolished  crucifixes, 
monuments,  and  painted  windows  ;  insulting  the  regu- 
lar priests,  too  many  of  whom  carried  under  their  con- 
formity clothes,  the  flagrant  characteristics  of  ignorance 
and  vice.  Some  of  the  ultra,  highflying  bishops  com- 
plained to  the  court,  that  llicy,  poor,  injured  innocents ! 
were  persecuted,  and  afraid  to  stir  abroad,  lest  the 
populace  might  stone  them. 

Others,  however,  more  especially  Dr.  Grindall, 
bishop  of  Ijondon,  disapproved  of  the  unchristian 
spirit  and  conduct  of  the  government  clergy  ;  and 
was  as  kind  to  the  puritans,  as  such  intolerant  times 
would  allow.  The  university  of  Cambridge,  also, 
exercised  its  privilege  of  authorizing  ministers  to 
preach  throughout  England,  witliout  a  bishop's  license. 
Hence,  many  of  the  suspended  clergy  travelled  through 
the  country,  preaching  the  Gospel,  wherever  they  could 
find  a  pulpit. 

About  the  year  1567,  arose  the  sect  of  the  Brownists, 
or  independents,  who  not  only  denied  the /W6-  diimium 
of  episcopacy,  but  maintained  that  the  English  esta- 
blishment itself  was  not  a  true  Scriptural  church.  In 
order  to  convince  these  heretics  of  their  error,  Elizabeth 
had  recourse  to  her  favourite  arguments  of  imprison- 
ment, torture,  and  death. 

She  also  huimed  alive  some  Dutch  anabaptists  ;  not- 
withstanding Fox,  the  martyrologist,  wrote  her  a  let- 
ter, containing  some  dissuasives  from  this  horrible  act, 
as  must  have  softened  any  human  heart,  exce2)t  that 
of  a  thorough  bred,  established  formalist,  armed  with 
power    to   wreak   its    natural   vengeance    upon    evan- 


PURITANS    AND   BAPTISTS    MURDERED.  11.5 

gelical  piety.  Fox's  letter  might  be  read  with  profit, 
by  many  sturdy  polemics  and  persecutors  of  the  present 
day,  in  the  Anglican  Church  establisliment. 

Towards  the  puritans,  also,  her  cruelty  was  aug- 
mented ;  both  parties  pelted  Ccich  other  with  abusive 
pamphlets.  Elizabeth's  officers  searched  strictly  af- 
ter the  private  presses  of  the  puritans ;  and  the  se- 
verest laws  w'ere  passed  against  the  general  liberty  of 
the  press;  yet  the  cruelty  of  the  state  bishops  outran 
the  zeal  of  their  royal  mistress,  and  passed  beyond 
the  limits,  even  of  the  most  iniquitous  statutes.  At 
length,  several  puritans  were  executed  by  order  of  this 
protestant  queen.  One  grievous  item  in  the  catalogue 
of  their  crimes,  was  maintaining  the  morality  of  the 
Christian  Sabbath ;  at  a  time,  when  several  lives  were 
lost  at  a  bear  halting,  on  the  Lord's  day,  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  London. 

In  the  thirty-fifth  year  of  her  reign,  Elizabeth 
enacted  a  statute  for  the  punishment  of  those  who  re- 
fused to  go  to  the  state  church.  For  the  first  offence, 
an  imprisonment  of  three  months  is  inflicted  ;  for  the 
second,  banishment ;  for  tlie  third,  deatli.  This  act,  I 
believe,  has  never  yet  been  formally  repealed. 

The  condition  of  real  religion,  of  vital  Chris- 
tianity, was,  of  course,  not  very  flourishing  amidst  all 
these  contentions,  persecutions,  and  butcheries,  about 
vestments,  habits,  rites,  ceremonies,  and  church  go- 
vernment. The  great  body  of  the  national  clergy, 
notwithstanding  the  necessarij  tendency  of  a  church 
establishment  to  promote  piety,  and  prevent  pagan- 
ism ;  wer^,  indeed,  a  most  pitiable  set  of  laithlcss 
hirelings ;  in  ten  thousand  parishes  there  wTre  only 
a  few  hundred  preachers.  A  petition,  presented  to 
parliament,  complained,  that  to  fill  up  the  places  of 
the  ejected  puritans,  the  bishops  manufactured  state 
clergy  out  of  the  basest  of  the  people ;  not  only  as 
to  their  occupations,  they  being  shoemakers,  barbers, 
sliepherds,  and  horse-keepers ;  but  also,  on  account 
of  their  vices.      In  a   survey  of  different  counties,  a 

1  2 


116  LOW    STATE    CLERGY. 

large  proportion  of  the  established  clergy  are  marked 
as  drunkards,  dicers,  and  burned  in  the  hand  for 
felony. 

Bishop  Sandys  says,  that  many  people  could  not 
hear  a  sermon  for  seven  years ;  and  while  they  pe- 
rished for  lack  of  knowledge,  their  blood  would  lie  at 
somebody's  door.  Yet  amidst  this  famine  of  the  word 
of  life,  Elizabeth  prohibited  the  prophesyinys,  or  preach- 
ings of  the  clergy;  for  the  continuance  of  which  arch- 
bishop Grindall  pleaded  in  vain,  to  the  loss  of  his  own 
favour  with  the  queen,  who  proscribed  all  as  puritans, 
that  went  to  a  place  of  public  worship  tivice  on  the 
Sabbath,  and  employed  the  evening  of  that  day  in 
domestic  worship  and  instruction. 

With  the  character  of  EHzabcth,  as  a  politician,  the 
present  inquiry  has  no  concern.  Doubtless,  she  had 
a  strong,  clear  head,  and  possessed  a  sufficient  fund 
of  good  sense,  to  select  able  ministers,  particularly, 
Walsingham,  and  the  two  Cecils,  father  and  son, 
whose  genius  and  wisdom  bore  England  up  to  a  high 
eminence  among  the  sovereignties  of  Europe  ;  but  of 
her  2)e7'Sonal  piety  her  own  conduct  must  create  doubts 
in  the  mind  of  an  impartial  observer.  She  shed 
too  much  Christian  blood ;  was  too  deliberate,  too 
cold  blooded,  too  cruel  a  persecutor,  for  a  religious 
woman. 

Her  profession  of  protestantism  was  little  else 
than  her  own  usurpation  of  papal  authority.  She 
kept  images,  a  crucifix,  and  lighted  candles,  in  her 
chapel,  and  ordered  her  chaplain  to  desist  from  un- 
godly digression,  when  he  preached  against  the  su- 
perstitious abuse  of  the  sign  of  the  cross.  She 
seemed,  like  her  father,  to  endeavour  to  suspend  the 
religion  of  England  upon  her  own  arbitrary  will,  and 
ever  shifting  caprice.  She  spent  a  long  reign  in  en- 
deavouring to  exterminate  evangelism  from  the  clergy 
and  people;  and  died,  without  exhibiting  a  single 
beam  of  religious  triumph  or  consolation.  But  we 
leave  her,  with  her  sister  Mary,  to  the  judgment  of  that 
tribunal  which  cannot  err. 


VAAZ  ABKTH — JAMKS.  117 

The  next  sanctimonious  (lefontler  of  our  most  holy 
Taith,  was  James,  tlie  sixth  of  Scotland,  and  the  first 
of  Kngland.  I'he  reformation,  in  Scotland,  was  popu- 
lar and  parliamentary ;  and  James  had  an  early  oppor- 
tunity of  exhibiting  his  ki)igcrap,  on  wliich  he  so  much 
prided  himself;  that  is,  of  denying  or  disguising  the 
truth.  The  faction  of  his  mother,  who  was  in  the 
safe  keeping  of  her  cousin  KHzabctli,  was  composed  of 
professed  papists,  and  persons  indifferent  to  all  religion. 
The  rest  of  the  Scottish  were  zealous  for  the  reforma- 
tion, and  abhorred  Mary. 

AVhile  the  house  of  Guise  was  plotting  to  usurp 
the  crown  of  France,  and  to  embroil  England  with 
Scotland,  James  leaned  to  the  popish  interest ;  but 
when  the  duke  of  Guise  was  killed  at  Blois,  and 
Henry  the  tliird  soon  after  murdered,  and  Henry  the 
fourth  became  king  of  France,  our  Scottish  Solomon 
fell  into  the  leading  strings  of  Elizabeth's  ministers. 
But  no  party  could  ever  trust  him.  He  wrote  a  let- 
ter to  the  pope,  promising  to  favour  the  papists ;  and 
when  cardinal  Bellarmin  published  this  letter,  after 
the  gunpowder  plot  trials,  one  of  his  creatures,  Bal- 
merinoch,  took  it  upon  himself,  saying,  that  he  ob- 
tained the  king's  signature  to  it,  without  the  king's 
knowing  its  contents. 

This  tale  no  one  believed,  because  Balmerinoch  was 
never  punished.  James  was  always  suspected  of  lean- 
ing towards  popery,  notwithstanding  his  miserable  ef- 
fusions in  theology,  and  calling  the  pope  antichrist. 
Yet,  while  he  was  making  overtures  to  the  popish 
party,  he  plotted  successfully  with  the  elder  Cecil,  and 
other  leading  men  in  England,  to  secure  Elizabeth's 
protestant  throne  at  her  demise. 

As  soon  as  he  ascended  the  English  throne,  he  dis- 
covered his  hatred  to  the  Scottish  kirk,  and  laboured  to 
establish  episcopacy  in  its  stead.  But  these  transac- 
tions will  be  considered  hereafter,  when  the  church 
of  Scotland  comes  under  discussion. 

Yet  this  same  James  had  said  to  the  Scottish  pres- 
bytcrians — "  I  thank  God,  that  I  am  king  of  the  sin- 


118  LEANING    TO    POPKllY. 

cerest  kirk  in  the  world  ;  siiicerer  than  the  kirk  of 
Kngland,  whose  service  is  an  ill-said  mass  in  English  ; 
it  wants  nothing  of  the  mass  but  the  liftings  ;"  that  is, 
the  elevation  of  the  host. 

From  the  discovery  of  the  gunpowder  plot  to  his 
dying  day,  he  was  always  talking  and  writing  against, 
but  acting  in  favour  of  popery.  But  for  p?vtesfantisin, 
this  supreme  head  of  the  English  church  could  never 
be  induced  to  exert  himself;  not  even,  when  his  own 
son-in-law,  the  husband  of  his  only  daughter,  the  elec- 
tor palatine,  most  needed  his  assistance ;  although  the 
English  nation  was  much  inclined  to  support  him ; 
and  the  struggles  of  Bohemia  against  the  horrors  of 
popery,  at  that  time,  offered  a  more  favourable  oppor- 
tunity than  had  ever  occurred,  of  establishing  the 
reformation  in  P^urope. 

Bishop  Burnet,  in  his  history  of  his  own  time,  says, 
that  James's  reign  in  England  was  a  continued  course 
of  m.ean  practices.  The  first  condemnation  of  sir  Wal- 
ter Raleigh  was  very  black  ;  but  the  executing  him, 
after  so  many  years,  and  after  an  employment  given 
him,  was  a  barbarous  sacrifice  of  him  to  the  Spaniards. 
The  rise  and  fall  of  Somerset,  and  the  rapid  greatness 
of  Buckingham,  exposed  him  to  all  the  world.  His 
letters  to  his  son  Charles  and  Buckingham,  while 
in  Spain,  exhibit  the  most  despicable  meanness  He 
disgraced  England  in  the  eyes  of  all  Europe,  by  his 
folly,  cowardice,  and  fraud;  and  while  hungry  wri- 
ters flattered  him,  as  another  Solomon,  at  home,  he  was 
despised  by  all  abroad,  as  a  pedant,  devoid  of  judg- 
ment, courage,  and  steadiness  ;  subject  to  his  favou- 
rites and  minions;  and  delivered  over  to  the  corruptions 
of  Spain. 

Eut  James's  character,  as  a  politician,  belongs  to  the 
writers  of  civil  history  ;  our  present  concern  with  him 
relates  merely  to  his  church  supremacy,  and  his  conduct 
in  that  capacity.  On  his  entrance  into  England,  the 
puritans,  who  expected  at  least  an  abstinence  from  per- 
secution, in  a  king  who  had  thanked  God  for  being  at 


HAMPTON    COURT    CONIEUENCE.  119 

the  head  of  the  siiicerest  kirk  in  the  world,  met  him  by 
the  way,  and  presented  him  a  petition  called  the 
Millenary,  conveying  the  wishes  of  a  tJiousund  minis- 
ters for  furtlier  reformation. 

The  universities,  on  the  other  side,  sent  forth  their 
reply,  accompanied  with  a  decree.  James  appointed 
a  conference  at  Hampton-court ;  and  named  eight 
bishops  and  eight  deans,  on  the  part  of  the  state 
church  ;  and  four  men  on  the  side  of  the  puritans. 
But  James,  instead  of  hearing  the  arguments  on  either 
side,  was  eager  to  exhibit  his  own  theological  prow- 
ess, and  babbled  incessantly  about  the  points  in  con- 
troversy;  at  which  his  bishops  were  so  mightily  en- 
raptured, as  to  declare,  that  for  learning  and  piety, 
he  was  the  Solomon  of  his  age.  Bancroft,  bishop  of 
London,  fell  on  his  two  knees,  and  said,  "  my  heart 
melteth  for  joy,  that  Almighty  God,  of  his  singular 
mercy,  has  given  us  such  a  king,  as  since  Christ's 
time  the  like  hath  not  been."  The  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  also,  exclaimed,  "  undoubtedly,  your 
majesty  speaks  by  the  special  assistance  of  the  Spirit  of 
God." 

This  beggarly  blasphemy  James  was  weak  and 
wicked  enough  to  swallow  entire :  and,  in  order  to 
show  by  xvhat  spirit  he  was  assisted,  he  ended  the 
conference,  by  declaring,  that  he  would  make  the  pu- 
ritans conform ;  or  harry  them  out  of  the  land,  or  do 
worse.  Doubtless,  making  Christians  by  act  of  par- 
liament and  persecution,  was  the  only  Scriptural  mode 
of  spiritual  conversion,  ever  acknowledged  or  prac- 
tised by  those  legitimate  heads  of  the  established 
church  of  England,  the  Stuarts. 

Soon  after  the  close  of  the  Hampton-court  confer- 
ence, the  convocation  met,  and  published  one  hun- 
dred and  forty-one  canons,  which  were  ratified  by  the 
letters  patent  of  the  king,  as  head  of  the  church  ;  but 
not  being  sanctioned  by  parliament,  they  bind  only 
the  state  clergy. 

Bancroft,  now  archbishop  of  Canterbury,   persecuted 


120  SUNDAY   SPORTS. 

the  puritans  with  such  effect,  tliat  in  one  year  three 
hundred  ministers  were  suspended,  deprived,  excom- 
municated, imprisoned,  or  driven  into  exile. 

In  order  still  farther  to  show  by  what  spirit  he  was 
influenced,  James,  in  strict  accordance  with  the  lax 
notions  of  popery  in  relation  to  the  Christian  Sabbath, 
publislied  a  declaration  encouraging-  sports  on  the 
Lord's  day ;  the  morality  of  which  day,  be  it  remem- 
bered, is  insisted  upon  in  the  articles  of  that  very  esta- 
blished church,  whose  supreme  head  he  was.  Bishop 
Moreton  drew  up  tliis  declaration  for  Sunday  sports  ; 
in  which  the  good  people  of  England  were  recom- 
mended to  keep  the  Sabbath  day  holy  unto  the  Lord, 
by  dancing,  archery,  leaping,  vaulting.  May  games, 
whitsun-ales,  morris-dances,  setting  up  May-poles,  and 
carrying  ruslies  into  the  churches. 

As  James's  inclinations  always  gravitated  towards 
po])cry  ;  and  as  the  greater  part  of  the  state  clergy 
still  professed  what  is  now  called  Calvinism,  but 
which,  long  before  Calvin's  birth,  was  known  in  the 
Christian  church  as  Augustinism  ;  and  as  the  puri- 
tans were  no  great  admirers  of  the  man  of  sin  ;  the 
royal  Solomon,  notwithstanding  he  had  sent  some 
English  divines  to  the  synod  of  Dort,  began  to  en- 
courage what  is  called  Arminianism,  although  it  no 
more  resembles  the  theological  system  of  James  Van 
Armin,  than  it  does  that  of  John  Calvin.  To  effect 
this  scheme,  he  raised  V^'illiam  Laud  to  the  episco- 
pal bench. 

The  established  clergy,  however,  whose  religious 
and  political  opinions  generally  coincide  with  those 
of  the  royal  court,  seemed  inclined  to  submit  to  all 
the  king's  extravagant  notions  of  absolute  and  uncon- 
trolled sovereignty ;  for  when  a  preacher  at  Oxford 
asserted  in  his  sermon  the  right  of  the  people  to  re- 
sist a  tyrant,  that  university  passed  a  decree,  "  that 
it  is  not  lawful  for  subjects  to  appear  in  arms  against 
their  king,  on  the  score  of  religion,  or  on  any  other 
account;"  and  all   the   graduates  were  obliged  to  swear 


ARIANS    UUKNED.  191 

that  they  would  always  continue  of  the  same  opinion. 

At  this  period,  it  must  he  confessed,  the  religion 
and  liberty  of  P^nglaud  were  in  safe  custody,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  legal  head  of  the  established  church  ; 
possessing,  in  the  words  of  the  second  canon,  "  the 
same  authority  in  causes  ecclesiastical  that  the  godly 
(and  u?igod\y)  kings  had  amongst  the  Jews,  and  Chris- 
tian emperors  of  the  primitive  church." 

James,  while  secretly  cherishing  popery,  in  con- 
tradiction to  his  most  solemn  protestations  to  parliament; 
while  openly  favouring  Arminianism,  in  opposition 
to  his  own  training  and  declaration  in  the  sincerest 
kirk  in  the  world ;  evidenced  his  Christian  spirit,  by 
burning  alive  an  Arian  ;  and  soon  after  consigning 
another  to  the  flames.  He  was  preparing  to  burn  a 
third,  when  he  found  that  this  too  close  imitation  of 
Henry  and  Mary,  the  two  most  execrable  of  all  the 
Tudors,  had  roused  the  public  indignation  ;  and  the 
victim  of  royal  polemics  was  permitted  to  perish  in  per- 
petual imprisonment. 

At  the  death  of  Bancroft,  Abbot  was  made  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  ;  and  endeavoured  to  heal  the 
deep  gaslies  of  the  nation,  by  showing  kindness  to  the 
puritans ;  by  forbidding  his  clergy  to  read  the  decla- 
ration for  Sunday  sports  ;  and  by  opposing  the  semi- 
pelagian,  semi-popish  theology  of  Laud. 

One  maip  object  of  James,  and  Laud,  and  Charles, 
steadily  pursued  throughout  the  remainder  of  James's 
and  during  the  whole  of  his  son's  reign,  was  to  exter- 
minate whatever  they  saw  fit  to  brand  with  the  title 
of  puritanism ;  in  which  scheme  they  succeeded  so 
well  as  to  work  the  temporary  destruction,  both  of 
the  monarchy  and  of  the  hierarchy  of  England. 
Laud  taught  both  his  royal -masters  to  stigmatize,  as 
puritans,  not  only  the  nonconformists,  but,  likewise, 
all  those  in  the  establishment  who  still  continued  to 
construe  the  state  church  articles  in  a  Calvinistic 
sense,  the  sense  put  upon  them  by  the  reformers 
themselves,    and  by  the  great  body  of  their  successors. 


122  SCIIl'.MES    or    I,AUD. 

i'or  nearly  a  century ;  and  also,  all  those  who  op- 
posed the  arhitrary  measures  of  an  unprinci])led  and 
cruel  court. 

The  independent  country  gentlemen  of  England 
received  the  persecuted  puritans  in  their  houses,  as 
tutors  to  their  children  ;  whence  was  formed  a  genera- 
tion of  Knglishmeu,  well  imbued  with  the  spirit  of 
hostility  to  all  tyranny,  both  civil  and  religious.  Some 
of  the  puritans,  who  escaped  the  fangs  of  James, 
and  Bancroft,  and  Laud,  brought  hither,  to  America, 
their  sentiments  and  principles ;  which,  however,  in 
relation  to  religious  matters,  time  and  circumstance 
have  very  materially  diluted,  iu  certain  sections  of  the 
United  States. 

Charles  the  first  inherited  all  his  father's  notions 
about  the  plenitude  of  kingly  dominion  ;  but  substi- 
tuted for  the  light,  trifling,  undignified  manner  of  James, 
a  solemn  gravity,  better  suited  to  his  own  reserved 
and  haughty  temper.  He  was  seldom  even  barely  civil 
in  his  exterior  deportment,  and  generally  bestowed  a 
favour  so  ungraciously,  as  to  couple  with  it  the  sting  of 
mortification. 

His  very  first  act  as  a  king  in  Scotland,  gave  evil 
augury  of  his  future  reign.  In  1633,  he  went  down, 
in  person,  to  be  crowned ;  his  entry  and  coronation 
were  so  magnificent,  as  nearly  to  ruin  the  already  im- 
poverished country  by  the  expense.  When  the  parlia- 
ment sate,  the  lords  of  tlie  articles  prepared  an  act, 
declaring  the  royal  prerogative,  similar  to  that  passed 
in  1606,  but  adding  an  act  passed  in  1609,  which 
empowered  James  to  prescribe  apparel  to  churchmen, 
with  their  own  consent.  And  in  1617,  the  lords  of 
articles  ])repared  an  act,  that  all  ecclesiastical  affairs 
should  be  determined  by  the  king,  with  the  consent  of 
a  competent  number  of  clergy,  and  have  the  power  of 
a  law.  This  act,  however,  though  passed  in  the 
articles,  was  suppressed  in  the  house  by  order  of  James 
himself. 

The  act  of  1633  embraced  both  those  of  1606  and 
1609.     This  the  earl  of  Rothes  opposed,    and  desired 


CHARLES    THK    FIRST.  123 

the  two  acts  might  be  divided;  but  Cliarles  said,  it  was 
now  one  act,  and  he  must  either  vote  for  or  against  it. 
Rothes  answered,  that  the  addition  was  contrary  to  the 
liberties  of  the  church,  and  ought  not  to  be  made  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  clergy,  or,  at  least,  their  being 
heard.  Charles  ordered  him  to  argue  no  more,  but  give 
his  vote ;  which  he  did,  not  content.  Some  few  other 
lords  offered  to  argue,  but  Charles  stopped  them,  and 
commanded  them  to  vote. 

Almost  the  whole  commons  voted  in  the  negative, 
and  the  act  was  rejected  by  a  majority  ;  which  Charles 
kneiv,  for  he  had  called  for  a  list  of  the  members,  and 
with  his  own  pen  marked  every  man's  vote.  The  clerk 
of  the  Register,  who  gathers  and  declares  the  votes, 
said,  the  act  was  carried  in  the  affirmative ;  but 
Rothes  declared  it  went  in  the  negative ;  whereon, 
Charles  said  the  clerk's  declaration  must  stand,  unless 
Rothes  would  go  to  the  bar,  and  accuse  him  of  falsifying 
the  records  of  parliament,  which  was  capital;  but  if 
he  failed  in  proof,  he  was  liable  to  the  same  punish- 
ment. 

This  Rothes  declined  ;  and  th.e  act  was  published  as 
a  law,  though  rejected  by  the  house.  Charles,  also, 
expressed  his  high  displeasure  against  all  who  had  op- 
posed the  bill.  The  lords  had  many  meetings  thereon, 
and  concluded  that  all  their  liberties  were  gone,  and 
parliament  a  piece  of  pageantry,  if  the  clerk  of  register 
might  declare,  as  he  pleased,  how  the  vote  went,  and 
no  scrutiny  be  allowed. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  expatiate  minutely  on  the 
merciless  cruelty  of  Laud  tovvards  all  who  refused 
to  bow  down  to  the  idols  which  he  had  set  up.  Yet 
it  would  not  be  amiss  occasionally  to  remind  those, 
both  in  England  and  in  these  United  States,  who 
worship  the  memory  of  that  '*  great  prelate,"  as  they 
term  him,  scarcely  on  this  side  of  idolatry,  of  his  star- 
chamber  exploits  ;  the  imprisonments,  fines,  pillory- 
ings,  mutilations,  burnings,  which  lie  inflicted  upon 
those,  who  preferred  to  worship  God,  in  conscien- 
tious  simplicity  and  purity,  to  a  hypocritical   compli- 


19A  CKUELTIES    OF    LAUD. 

aiicc  with  his  base  mumnicries  aiul  pagan  ceremonials; 
the  cold-blooded,  malignant  delight  with  which  he 
entered  into  his  private  diary,  that  on  such  a  day, 
at  such  an  hour,  some  one  was  branded  in  the  cheek 
with  a  Jiot  iron  ;  or  had  his  nose  slit  open  ;  or  his  cars 
pared  off  close  to  his  skull ;  or  had  been  lashed,  until 
the  naked  bones  stood  out  visibly  on  his  mangled 
back. 

And  all  these  horrible  mutilations  and  manglings  of 
his  fellow-men,  by  a  bishop  of  the  English  protestant 
church  establishment !  For  what  f  Because  they  were 
too  honest,  too  conscientious,  too  intrepid,  to  subscribe 
to  all  his  beggarly  popish  ceremonials  and  mummery ; 
as  the  established,  formal  substitute  for  the  worship  of 
that  Jehovah,  who  is  of  purer  eyes  than  to  behold  ini- 
quity, and  transgression,  and  sin. 

Mosheim,  and  his  translator  and  annotator,  between 
them,  inform  us,  tha.  in  16^5  died  James  the  first 
of  England,  the  bitterest  enemy  of  the  doctrine  and 
discipline  of  tlie  puritans,  to  which  in  his  youth  he 
had  professed  the  warmest  attachment ;  the  most  in- 
flexible and  eager  patron  of  the  Arminians,  to  whose 
ruin  and  condemnation,  in  Holland,  he  had  been 
singularly  ii) strum eutal ;  and  the  most  zealous  defender 
of  episcopal  government,  against  which  he  had  been 
accustomed  to  express  himself  in  the  strongest  terms. 

His  son  Charles  had  imbibed  all  his  father's  worst 
political  and  religious  prejudices.  All  his  zeal  and 
exertion  were  directed  to  extend  the  royal  pre- 
rogative, and  raise  the  power  of  the  crown  above  the 
authority  of  law  ;  to  reduce  all  the  churches  in  the 
British  isles  under  the  jurisdiction  of  state  bishops  ; 
and  to  suppress  the  opinions  and  institutions  of  Cal- 
vinism. 

The  execution  of  this  threefold  scheme  he  com- 
mitted to  Laud,  whom,  in  1633,  he  raised  to  the  see 
of  Canterbury.  It  is  worthy  of  observation,  that 
Laud  was  the  Ji?-st  Arminian  prelate  who  occupied 
the  palace  of  Lambeth.  There  had  been  six  \no- 
testant    IMetropolitaus    of    England,    from    the    com- 


ARMINIAN    ARCHBISHOP.  125 

niencement  of  the  Reformation  to  the  ascendancy  of 
Laud  ;  namely,  Cranmer,  Parker,  Grindall,  AVhitgift, 
Bancroft  and  Abbot ;  all  of  whom  professed  to  hold  the 
tenets  generally  called  Calvinistic. 

On  his  accesvsion  to  the  English  throne,  Charles 
was  supposed  to  be  favourably  inclined  towards  tlie 
puritans  ;  for  his  tutor  and  all  his  court  leaned  to  that 
side  ;  and  Dr.  Preston,  the  puritan  leader,  rode  up  in 
the  coach  from  Theobalds  to  London,  with  the  king 
and  the  duke  of  Buckingham,  But  what  puritanism 
could  be  expected  in  a  man  who  married  a  seducing 
papist,  whose  entrance  into  England,  bishop  Kennet 
declared  to  be  more  fatal  than  the  plague  ?  It  were  as 
easy  to  amalgamate  darkness  with  light,  as  to  reconcile 
popery  with  puritanism,  or  with  any  thing  approaching 
to  puritanism. 

For  openly  exhibiting  Laud's  new  system  of  Armi- 
nian  theology,  Montague  was  formally  censured  by 
the  English  parliament,  and  done  into  a  bishop  by 
Charles.  Laud's  own  conduct  was  sufficient  to  ruin 
any  church,  however  pure  and  apostolic  in  doctrine 
and  worship;  and  to  destroy  a  much  better  king  than 
Charles ;  and  to  overthrow  a  much  better  govern- 
ment than  England  ever  knew,  prior  to  the  revolu- 
tion of  1688.  This  semi-papist  was  continually  urging 
Charles  to  the- commission  of  illegal,  arbitrary,  cruel 
acts.  JMany  puritans  were  fined  in  the  star-cham- 
ber, so  excessively,  as  to  sink  them  from  affluence  to 
beggary 

Preachers  were  employed  to  set  forth  the  divine 
right  of  an  arbitrary,  evasive  king.  One  Dr.  Sib- 
thorpe  declared,  in  an  assize  sermon,  that  if  princes 
command  what  subjects  may  not  perform,  because  against 
the  laws  of  God,  or  nature,  or  impossible ;  subjects  arc 
bound  to  undergo  the  punishment,  without  resistance  or 
reviling. 

Charles,  of  course,  was  delighted  with  such  an 
evangelical  exhibition  of  Scriptural  truth,  and  order- 
ed archbishop  ^Vbbot  to  license  it  for  the  press  ;  but 
as  Abbot   understood  his   Bible  in  a  sense  quite  dif- 


126  CHIEF    JUSTICE    RICHARDSON. 

fcreiit  from  that  in  which  it  appeared  to  the  eyes  and 
the  understandings  of  Sibthorpe,  Charles  and  Laud, 
he  dechned  obedience  to  the  royal  mandate ;  and  was 
forthwith  banished  to  an  unhealthy  spot ;  doubtless  to 
enable  him  the  better  to  meditate  upon  the  uncertainty 
of  human  life. 

Charles,  in  imitation  of  his  father,  and  by  the  ad- 
vice of  Laud,  published  a  declaration,  encouraging 
his  subjects  to  enliven  the  Sabbath  by  dancing,  masks 
and  interludes.  And  when  the  judges  and  justices  of 
one  of  the  largest  counties  in  Kngland  remonstrated 
against  this  profanation  of  the  Lord's  day,  Laud  re- 
viled them  as  puritans  ;  and,  remembering  that  he  be- 
longed to  the  church  militant  here  on  earth,  collared 
and  shook  chief  justice  Richardson  so  fiercely,  and  so 
perseveringly,  as  nearly  to  choke  the  aged  lawyer  with  his 
lawn  sleeves. 

The  Lord's  Supper  used  to  be  celebrated  in  the  midst 
of  the  churches,  at  a'  table ;  which  Laud  removed,  placed 
as  an  altar  against  the  east  wall,  and  fenced  round  with 
a  railing.  The  people  were  instructed  to  bow  towards 
this  new  altar,  and  to  look  upon  it  as  a  place  peculiarly 
and  intrinsically  sacred. 

The  pompous  ritual  of  the  established  Anglican 
Church  was  approximated  to  that  of  Rome,  and  Dr. 
Cozens  set  up  in  the  cathedral  at  Durham,  a  marble 
altar  with  cherubim ;  a  cope,  with  the  Trinity,  God 
the  Father  being  represented  as  an  old  man;  and  a  cru- 
cifix, with  the  image  of  Christ,  having  a  red  beard  and 
a  blue  cap.  He  lighted  up  two  hundred  tapers  at  the 
altar  on  candlemas  day ;  and  procured  a  consecrated 
knife  to  cut  the  sacramental  bread. 

Laud  punished  without  measure,  and  without  mer- 
cy, all  who  presumed  to  disapprove  of  his  ecclesi- 
astical system.  Mr.  Smart,  a  prebendary  of  Durham 
cathedral,  was  cruelly  persecuted  for  preaching  against 
its  popish  rites.  And  Dr.  Leighton,  father  of  the 
excellent  Scottish  archbishop  of  that  name,  was  tried  in 
the  star-chamber,  for  publishing  Zion's  Plea  against 
Prelacy  ;  and  received  a  sentence,  for  which  Laud  pulled 


l.EIGHTON rUYNNE.  127 

off  his  cap,   in  presence  of  the  assembled   court,  and 
gave  thanks  to  God  aloud. 

This  precious  primate  of  tlie  established  church  of 
England  has  deliberately  recorded  in  his  diary  this 
rigliteous  sentence,  which  extorted  his  gratitude  to  a 
merciful  God: — "his  ears  were  cut  off,  his  nose  slit, 
his  face  branded  with  burning  irons  ;  he  was  tied  to  a 
post,  and  whipped  with  a  treble  cord,  of  which  every 
lash  brought  away  his  flesh  ;  he  was  kept  in  the  pillory 
near  two  hours,  in  frost  and  snow." 

I^eighton  was  then  imprisoned,  with  peculiar  rigour, 
for  eleven  years,  and  when,  at  length,  released,  not 
by  Laud,  who  never  knew  what  relenting  was,  but  by  the 
Knglish  parliament,  he  could  neither  see,  nor  hear,  nor 
walk. 

In  1637,  Burton,  Prynne,  and  Bastwick,  a  divine, 
a  lawyer,  and  a  physician,  were  found  guilty  of  writing 
against  Laud  s  popish  innovations,  and  the  Sabbath 
sports ;  for  which  crime,  they  were  condemned  to  stand 
in  the  pillory,  and  have  both  ears  cut  off.  Prynne 
had  heretofore  received  this  Laudian  benediction  ;  and 
now,  by  especial  order  of  the  good  archbishop  liimself, 
the  remaining  stumps  of  his  ears  were  barbarously 
mangled,  the  temporal  artery  cut,  and  blood  drained 
off  in  streams. 

AVhen  Laud  was  afterwards  on  his  own  trial,  he  had 
the  front  to  ask,  what  one  instance  of  cruelty  he  had 
ever  committed?  Prynne  immediately  took  off' his  wig, 
and  showed  these  "  insignia  Laudis,''  upon  his  own 
bare,  mutilated  skull. 

During  twelve  years  of  the  maladministration  of  this 
merciless,  bigoted  formalist,  four  thousand  emigrants 
escaped  with  life,  from  his  murderous  persecution,  to 
America  ;  and  twenty-seven  clergymen,  ordained  in  the 
church  of  England,  became  pastors  of  American  con- 
gregations, ]irior  to  the  year  1640.  These  persecutions 
drained  England  of  half  a  million  sterling,  a  sum,  at 
least,  equal  in  value  to  ten  millions  of  dollars  at  present; 
and  also  drove  from  her  an  immeasurable  aofineo-ate  of 
piety,  talent,   learning,   industry,   and  efficiency.      So 


128  EMIGRATIONS. 

serviceable  is  a  persecuting  church  establishment 
to  the  cause  of  religion,  and  to  the  country  upon 
which  it  is  fastened  by  the  iron  chain  of  secular 
power. 

Multitudes  more  would  have  followed  the  earlier 
pilgrims  to  these  transatlantic  shores  ;  but  Laud  for- 
Lade  them  to  emigrate,  that  he  might  gratify,  though 
he  could  not  glut  his  archiepiscopal  malignity,  in 
mangling  and  mutilating  their  bodies  at  home.  Both 
Charles  and  Laud,  however,  afterwards  enjoyed  full 
leisure  to  regret  the  having  issued  their  writ  of  ne 
exeant  regno,  to  Oliver  Cromwell,  and  some  of  his 
sturdy  companions,  who  wished  to  come  to  this 
country. 

No  human  language  is  sufficient  to  describe  the 
imprudent  insolence,  the  childish  superstition,  the 
extreme  violence,  the  personal  animosity,  the  unre- 
lenting, blood-thirsty  persecution,  that  marked,  and 
characterized,  and  pervaded,  and  darkened  the  whole 
course  of  Laud's  ecclesiastical  administration.  He  ex- 
ecuted the  plans  of  the  arbitrary  Stuart,  and  furthered 
the  views  of  his  own  clerical  ambition,  with  singular 
cruelty,   and  unrivalled  folly. 

He  did  every  thing  insolently.  If  the  law  of  the 
land  opposed  his  schemes,  he  spurned  it  with  con- 
tempt, and  violated  it  without  hesitation.  He  heap- 
ed upon  all  whom  he  chose  to  designate  as  puri- 
tans, every  species  of  injury,  and  vexation,  and  suf- 
fering ;  and  laboured  to  exterminate  them  by  im- 
prisonment,  by  torture,  by  murder. 

He  rejected  publicly,  so  early  as  1625,  the  first 
year  of  Charles's  reign,  the  Calvinistic  doctrine  of 
predestination,  as  contained  in  the  seventeenth  arti- 
cle of  the  Anglican  Church  ;  and  notwithstanding 
the  opposition  and  remonstrance  of  archbishop  Ab- 
bot, insisted  upon  substituting  the  Arminian  system 
in  its  place.  He  did  not  indeed,  venture  openly  to 
abrogate  the  thirty-nine  articles,  and  cause  the  te- 
nets of  Arminius  to  be  incorporated  into  the  creed 
of  the  church  of  England  ;  but  in  1625,  he  wrote  a 


laud's  trevahication.  129 

small  treatise  to  prove  the  orthodoxy  of  the  Arininian 
doctrines ;  and  by  his  influence  with  the  duke  of 
Buckingham,  he  got  Arminian  and  anti-puritanical 
chaplains  placed  about  the  king. 

These  facts  are  worthy  of  notice,  as  contrasted  with 
his  subsequent  flat  denial  of  having  ever  encouraged 
Arminianism ;  and  should  be,  occasionally,  remem- 
bered by  those  churchmen,  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic,  who  so  much  admire  this  father  and  founder 
of  protestant  episcopal  formalism^  and  hang  his  pic- 
ture up  in  their  closets,  as  papists  do  the  images  of 
their  patron  saints. 

On  his  trial,  Laud  utterly  denied  himself  to  be, 
eitlier  an  Arminian,  or  a  promoter  of  Arminianism — 
"  I  answer,  in  general,"  said  this  prevaricating  prelate, 
"  that  I  never  endeavoured  to  introduce  Arminianism 
into  our  church,  nor  ever  maintained  any  Arminian 
opinions.  I  did  neither  protect,  nor  countenance  the 
Arminians,  persons,  books,  or  tenets.  True  it  is,  I 
was,  in  a  declaration  of  the  commons  house,  taxed  as  a 
favourer,  advancer  of  Arminians  and  their  opinions, 
without  any  particular  proof  at  all ;  which  was  a  great 
ski/ider  to  me." 

Credat  Judceus!  for  no  Christian  will  be  readily  in- 
duced to  believe  this  assertion,  although  made  under 
the  prospect  of  impending  death  ;  for  he  could  not 
reasonably  expect  to  escape  with  life  from  the  hands  of 
men,  whom  he  had  so  long  been  in  the  habit  of  perse- 
cuting ;  so  many  of  whose  relations  and  friends  he  had 
fined,  imprisoned,  tortured,  killed ;  and  some  of  whom, 
then  present,  bore  in  their  own  persons,  the  indelible 
marks  of  his  merciless  mutilations. 

Now  for  the  proofs  of  the  truth  of  his  dying  asseve- 
rations, that  he  never  was  an  Arminian  ;  that  he  never 
maintained  any  Arminian  opinions ;  that  he  never 
countenanced  Arminians;  that  he  never  introduced 
Arminianism  into  the  church  of  Enghmd. 

In  1622,  l^aud  induced  James  to  publish  "  <f/7TC- 
tions,"  forbidding  every  clergyman,  under  the  degree 
of   bishop  or  dean,   to   preach   in  public,  cither  for  or 

K 


130  Charles's  proclamation. 

against  those  doctrines  of  grace  specified  therein. 
But  this  prohibition,  causing  much  indignation  in  the 
pubUc,  James  sent  forth  an  apology  for  his  conduct ; 
which  served  both  to  allay  the  popular  displeasure, 
and  to  blunt  the  edge  of  the  directions  themselves. 
In  1626,  about  four  months  after  his  coronation, 
Charles,  instigated  by  Laud,  revived  these  unpopular 
directions,  and  extended  the  prohibition  to  bishops  and 
deans. 

There  was  fraud  as  well  as  force,  throughout  the 
whole  of  this  proceeding.  But  dolus,  an  virtus  ?  is 
the  motto  of  a  full  fledged  formalist.  And  in  justice, 
we  must  confess,  that  the  dolus  generally  outweighs 
the  virtus,  in  his  ecclesiastical  measures  and  conduct ; 
formalism  being  as  nearly  allied  to  Jesuitism,  in  its 
convenient  morality,  or,  to  use  a  softer  term,  manage- 
ment;  as  it  is  akin  in  its  semipelagian  doctrine. 

The  literal  tenor  of  Charles's  proclamation  was  more 
favourable  to  the  Calvinists,  than  to  the  Arminians ; 
but  by  the  manner  of  Laud's  interpretation  and  execu- 
tion thereof,  it  was  made  to  exalt  the  Arminians,  and 
crush  the  Calvinists.  In  this  proclamation,  it  was  ex- 
pressly declared — "  that  his  majesty  would  admit  of 
no  iniiovations  in  the  doctrine,  discipline,  or  govern- 
ment of  the  church,  and  therefore  charges  all  his  sub- 
jects, and  especially  the  clergy,  not  to  publish  or 
maintain,  in  preaching  or  writing,  any  new  inventions 
or  opinions,  contrary  to  the  said  doctrine  and  disci- 
])line,  established  by  law." 

It  was,  to  speak  in  the  mildest  terms,  a  singular 
instance  of  Laud's  indecent  partiality,  to  employ  this 
proclamation  in  suppressing  the  books  written  in  de- 
fence of  the  thirty-nine  articles;  while  he  caused  the 
writings  of  the  Arminians,  who  expressly  opposed 
these  articles,  to  be  publicly  licensed.  This  mode  of 
conduct,  on  the  part  of  Laud,  not  only  demonstrates 
his  own  want  of  integrity,  but  also  shows  how  difficult 
it  is  to  change  systems  established  by  law.  For  nei- 
ther Charles,  who  was  by  no  means  shy  of  usurping 
authority  ;  nor    Laud,  who  was  far  from  being  slow  to 


SEVENTEENTH    AUTICEE.  131 

abuse  it,  attempted  to  reform  or  alter  the  articles  of 
church  faith,  directly  opposed  to  the  Arininiau  scheme, 
which  they  were  now  promoting,  and  which  was  fast 
gaining  ground  among  the  state  clergy,  under  their 
courtly  protection. 

Instead  of  reforming,  or  rather  of  counter-reforming 
the  thirty-nine  articles,  which  would  have  been  strenu- 
ously opposed  by  the  house  of  commons,  and  a  large 
proportion  of  the  national  clergy  and  laity,  who  were 
still  attached  to  Calvinism,  as  the  accredited  system  of 
the  English  reformers;  the  cunning  and  malignant 
primate  induced  his  royal  puppet  to  reprint  the  articles, 
with  an  ambiguous  declaration  prefixed,  tending  to 
discourage  the  existing  controversies  between  Calvinists 
and  Arminians  ;  and  thus  secure  to  the  Arminians  an 
unmolested  state,  in  which  their  power  and  influence 
might  daily  grow,  under  the  countenance  and  patron- 
age of  the  court. 

This  declaration,  which,  in  many  editions  of  the 
English  common  prayer  book,  still  stands  at  the  head 
of  the  articles,  is  a  curious  piece  of  political  theology. 
In  its  tenor,  precision  is  studiously  sacrificed  to  am- 
biguity ;  and  even  contradictions  are  preferred  beford 
clear,  consistent,  positive  decisions.  The  declaration 
seemed  to  favour  the  Calvinists,  by  prohibiting  the 
affixing  any  new  sense  to  any  article  ;  but  in  effect  fa- 
voured the  Arminians,  by  ordering  all  curious  research 
about  the  contested  points  to  be  laid  aside.  The  most 
preposterous  part  of  this  declaration  was,  its  being  de- 
signed to  favour  the  Arminians,  and  yet  prohibiting  any 
one,  either  in  sermons  or  writings,  to  put  his  own  sense 
or  comment  to  be  the  meaning  of  the  article  ;  and  or- 
dering all  to  take  each  article  in  its  literal  and  gramma- 
tical sense,  and  submit  to  it  in  the  full  and  plain  mean- 
ing thereof. 

For  the  plain,  literal,  grammatical  meaning  of  the 
seventeentJi  article,  has  been  universally  conceded  to 
be  unfavourable  to  the  Arminian  system ;  and  bishop 
Burnet,  himself  a  stout  Arminian,  acknowledges,  in 
his  "  Exposition,"  that,  without  enlarging  their  sense, 

K  2 


ia2  RICHARD    MONTAGUE, 

Arminians  cannot  subscribe  certain  of  the  articles,  con- 
sistently with  their  own  opinions. 

One  immediate  design  of  this  proclamation  was,  to 
shelter  Richard  INIontague,  a  clerical  creature  of  I^aud, 
from  the  printed  refutations  of  his  book,  which  were 
showering  upon  him  from  all  quarters.  He  had  written 
in  behalf  of  the  Arminian  tenets,  and  of  absolute  obe- 
dience to  kings  ;  Arminianism,  in  that  age,  in  Eng- 
land, closely  connecting  itself  with  civil,  as  well  as 
ecclesiastical  despotism.  And  these  two  systems  of 
theology  and  tyranny,  cemented  by  mutual  interests  and 
similar  views,  formed,  under  the  auspices  of  Laud  and 
Charles,  that  grand  conspiracy  against  the  doctrines  of 
the  church  of  England,  and  against  the  constitutional 
liberties  of  the  English  people  ;  whicli  soon  eventuated 
in  the  overthrow  of  the  hierarchy,  and  the  decapitation 
of  the  monarch. 

The  parliament,  about  a  year  before,  in  1625,  had 
severely  censured  Montague's  performance,  entitled 
"  An  appeal  to  Cesar  ;"  "  in  which,"  said  the  commit- 
tee of  the  commons,  "  there  are  many  things  directly 
contrary  to  the  thirty-nine  articles  established  by  par- 
liament. He  denies  that  Arminius  was  the  first  who 
infected  Leyden  with  errors  and  schisms.  The  synod 
of  Dort,  so  honoured  by  the  late  king,  he  calls  foreign 
and  partial.  He  plainly  intimates,  that  there  are 
puritan  bishops ;  which,  we  conceive,  tends  much  to 
the  disturbance  of  the  peace  in  churcli  and  state.  He 
respects  Bellarmin,  but  slights  Calvin,  Beza,  Perkins, 
Whitaker,  and  Reynolds.  He  much  discountenances 
God's  word ;  disgraces  lectures,  lecturers,  and  preach- 
ing itself;  nay,  even  reading  the  Bible  Upon  the 
whole,  the  frame  of  the  book  is  to  encourage  po- 
pery, in  maintaining  the  papists  to  be  the  true 
church,  and  that  they  differ  not  from  us  in  any  funda- 
mental point." 

This  description  of  IMontague,  by  the  house  of 
commons,  bears  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  opinions 
and    character  of   the    modern    fasliionable   formalists, 


BISHor    DaVKNANT.  IfiS 

\vlio  swarm  in  siicli  Hbiiiulance,   throughout  the  Angli- 
can Church  establishment. 

Heylin,  in  his  life  of  Laud,  admits,  that  Charles 
and  his  confessor  had  recourse  to  this  proclamation, 
because  they  were  afraid  to  trust  the  Arminian  con- 
troversy to  a  convocation  of  the  English  clergy  ;  the 
major ity  of  whom,  botli  bishops  and  inferior  clerks, 
still  adhered  to  the  articles,  in  the  sense  in  which  the 
first  reformers  had  framed  them.  He  says  that  bishop 
Andrews  did  not  incline  to  the  new  modelling  the 
church  from  Calvinism  to  Arminianism  ;  the  Arminian 
tenets  not  being  so  generally  entertained  among  the 
clergy ;  nor  the  archbishop  Abbot,  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  prelates  so  inclinable  to  them,  as  to  verdure 
the  determining  of  those  points  to  a  convocation.  But 
that  which  was  not  thought  fit,  in  that  conjecture,  for  a 
convocation,  Ids  majesty  was  pleased  to  take  order  in, 
by  his  royal  edict.  ]\lany  books  had  been  written 
against  Montague,  &c. 

Some  time  after  the  issuing  of  this  proclamation, 
or  royal  edict,  Dr.  Davenant,  bishop  of  Salisbury, 
preached  before  the  king,  at  Whitehall.  His  text,  as 
he  himself  tells  us,  in  his  letter  to  Dr.  Ward,  on  this 
occasion,  was  Rom.  vi.  23, — the  gift  of  God  is  eternal 
life,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Here,  I  ex- 
pounded the  threefold  happiness  of  the  Godly  :  1st, 
happy  in  the  Lord  whom  they  serve ;  God,  or  Christ 
Jesus ; — 2d,  happv  in  the  reward  of  their  service,  eternal 
life  ; — ;3d,  happy  in  the  manner  of  their  reward;  yapiafut, 
or  gratuitum  donuni  in  Chi'isto,  the  reward  is  God's 
free,  unmerited  gift  in  Christ. 

The  two  former  points  were  not  excepted  against. 
In  the  third,  1  considered  eternal  life  in  three  divers 
instances  : — 1st,  in  the  eternal  destination  thereunto, 
which  we  call  election ; — 2d,  in  our  conversion,  re- 
generation, or  manifestative  justification,  which  I 
termed  the  embryo  of  eternal  life  ; — .Sd,  in  our  coro- 
nation, when  full  possession  of  eternal  life  is  given  us. 
In  all  these,  I  showed  it  to  be  yr^npiana,  the  free  gift  of 


134  PREDESTINATION. 

God,  through  Christ ;  and  not  procured,  or  pr  merited 
by  any  special  acts,  dei)ending  upon  the  free  will  of 
man.  The  second  point,  wherein  I  showed,  that  effec- 
tual vocation,  or  regeneration,  whereby  we  have  eternal 
life  inchoated,  and  begun  in  us,  is  a  free  gift ;  was  not 
expressly  taxed.  Only  the  first  bred  offence ;  not  in 
regard  to  the  doctrine  itself,  but  because  the  king  had 
pi^ohibited  the  debating  thereof. 

Presently  after  my  sermon  was  ended,  it  was  signi- 
fied unto  me  by  my  lord  of  York,  archbishop  Harse- 
net,  my  lord  of  Winchester,  bishop  Andrews,  and  my 
lord  chamberlain,  that  his  majesty  was  much  displeased, 
that  I  had  stirred  this  question,  which  he  had  forbidden 
to  be  meddled  with,  one  way  or  other.  My  answer  was, 
that  I  had  delivered  nothing  but  the  received  doctrine 
of  our  church,  established  in  the  seventeenth  article ; 
and  that  I  was  ready  to  justify  the  truth  of  what  I  had 
then  taught. 

Their  answer  was,  that  the  doctrine  was  not  gain- 
sayed  ;  but  his  highness  had  given  command  that 
these  questions  should  not  be  debated  ;  and  therefore 
he  took  it  more  offensively,  that  any  one  should  be  so 
bold,  as  in  his  own  hearing,  to  break  his  royal  com- 
mands. My  reply  was,  that  I  never  understood  his 
Inajesty  had  forbid  the  handling  of  any  doctrine,  com- 
prised in  the  articles  of  our  church;  but  only  the  raising 
oi  netv  questions,  or  adding  of  new  sense  thereunto, 
which  I  had  not  done,  nor  ever  should  do. 

When  coming  to  the  Tuesday  sermon,  one  of  the 
clerks  of  the  council  told  me,  that  I  was  to  attend  at 
the  council  table,  the  next  day  at  two  of  the  clock. 
When  1  came  thither,  ray  lord  of  York  made  a  speech 
of  well  nigh  half  an  hour  long,  aggravating  the  bold- 
ness of  my  offence  ;  namely,  the  breach  of  the  king's 
declaration.  Then  I  stood  upon  this  defence,  that 
the  doctrine  of  predestination,  which  I  taught,  was 
not  forbidden  by  the  declaration ;  Jirf^t,  because  in 
the  declaration,  all  the  thirty-nine  articles  are  esta- 
blished, amongst  which  the  article  of  predestination 
is   one.     Second,  because    all   ministers   are  urged  to 


CHAKLES'S    JESUITISM.  135 

subscribe  unto  the  truth  of  this  article ;  and  all  sub- 
jects to  continue  in  possession  of  it,  as  well  as  the 
rest. 

tljion  these,  and  such  like  grounds,  I  gathered  it, 
predestination  could  not  be  esteemed  among  forbidden, 
curious  or  needless  doctrines.  And  here  I  desired, 
that  out  01  any  clause  in  the  declaration  it  might  be 
showed  me,  that,  keeping  myself  within  the  bounds  of 
the  article,  1  had  transgressed  his  majesty's  command. 
But  the  declaration  was  not  produced,  nor  any  particu- 
lar words  in  it. 

Fuller  observes,  that  bishop  Davenant,  on  his  en- 
trance into  the  council  chamber,  presented  himself 
before  the  board  on  his  knees ;  a  mortifying  indignity, 
inflicted  on  him,  doubtless,  by  the  instigation  of  the 
malignant,  vindictive  Laud.  And  on  his  knees  he 
might  have  remained,  during  the  whole  time  of  his  con- 
tinuance before  the  privy  council,  for  any  favour  he 
found  from  those  of  liis  own  function,  his  brother  pre- 
lates, there  present.  13ut  the  temporal  lords  bid  him 
arise,  and  stand  to  his  own  defence  ;  being,  as  yet,  only 
accused,  not  convicted. 

Soon  after,  the  king  sent  for  Davenant,  and  told  him, 
that  lie,  Charles,  would  not  have  this  high  point,  pre- 
destination, meddled  withal,  or  debated,  the  one  way  <it 
the  other. 

Mark,  here,  the  hopeful  proficiency  of  the  royal  pupil 
in  Laud's  school  of  Jesuitism.  Charles  professed  to 
prohibit  the  opposing,  no  less  than  the  asserting  the 
doctrine  of  predestination.  But  his  mental  I'eserva- 
tion  helped  him,  in  this  as  in  other  instances.  He 
meant  only  half  wliat  he  said.  Davenant  was  sum-) 
moned  before  the  ])rivy  council,  and  reprimanded,  for 
asserting  the  doctrine  of  predestination,  according  to  the 
seventeenth  article;  while  IMontague  was  encouraged, 
and  promoted  to  the  episcopate,  for  opposing  predestina- 
tion ;  that  is  to  say,  for  literally  transgressing  the  king's 
ostensible  injunction. 

In  addition  to  all  these  iniquities,  Laud  introduced 
into  the  Anglican  Church  numberless  rites  and  cere- 


1,]0  GKNEiai      FORMALISM. 

monies,  marked  with  the  basest  stain  of  superstition  ; 
forced  bishops  u])on  the  Scottish  people,  who  were  zeal- 
ously attached  to  the  ecclesiastical  polity  and  discijiliue 
of  Geneva,  generally  called  presbyterian,  and  had 
shown,  on  all  occasions,  a  peculiar  abhorrence  of  epis- 
copal governi*ient ;  and  above  all,  he  gave  many  strong 
intimations,  that  he  deemed  tlie  popish  church  more 
pure,  more  lioly,  and  far  })referable  to  those  protestant 
churches,  whicl)  decline  submission  to  the  dominion  of 
bishops. 

Now  this  is  tlie  very  essence  of  that  modern  fashion- 
able  theology,  which  may  be  designated  by  the  generic 
term,  fb/iiK I lirWi,  which,  however  it  may  assume  various 
shades  in  different  individuals,  unites  them  all  by  one 
common  bond,  namely,  the  substitution  of  diurchman- 
ship  for  Christianity.  And,  if  we  may  judge  from  the 
publications  of  some  of  the  most  distinguished  formal 
champions  of  the  English  ecclesiastical  establishment, 
they  would  rather  embrace  an  apostle  fresh  from  pande- 
monium, with  the  mark  of  churchmanship  on  his  fore- 
head, than  the  brightest  archangel  that  ministers  in  hea- 
ven, without  the  surmounting  of  such  an  exterior  symbol. 

Nay,  but  the  Rev.  Samuel  Wix,  a  clergyman  of  the 
church  of  England,  and  vicar  of  Bartholomew  the  Less, 
in  London,  has  recently  uttered  a  woik,  in  which  he 
gravely  proposes  a  union  between  the  lloman  and  Ang- 
lican Churches ;  for  the  avotved  purpose  of  putting  down 
all  protestant  dissenters,  and  of  destroying  the  British 
and  Foreign  Bible  Society. 

Divers  attempts,  at  divers  times,  have  been  made  to 
whitewash  Laud,  and  to  transmute  an  established  epis- 
copal tyrant  and  murderer,  into  a  church  saint ;  after 
the  manner  of  the  papal  scheme.  One  of  the  most 
.  zealous  of  his  advocates  is  iJr.  Heylin,  who,  in  his 
'  "  Life  of  Laud,"  and  in  his  '■'  History  of  the  Quinquar- 
ticular  Controversy,"  labours,  at  once  to  magnify  the 
primate,  and  to  induce  his  readers  to  believe,  that  the 
articles  of  the  English  Church  are  to  be  now,  and  always 
have  been,  construed  in  an  Arminian  sense. 


JOANNA    SOUTHCOTE.  1S7 

Quite  lately,  My.  Johnson  Grant,  in  bis  "Summary 
of  the  history  of  the  English  Church,  and  of  the  sects 
w'hicli  have  separated  from  its  comnninion,"  has  trod- 
den in  Heylin's  foot-track,  so  ftir  as  relates  to  glorifying 
Laud,  and  exhibiting  the  Arminianism  of  the  a\ngli- 
can    Church,  as   exemplified   in   her    articles,   homilies 

and  liturgy. 

Indeed,  Mr.  Grant  is  so  zealous  a  churchman,  and  so 
desperate  a  foe  to  all  dissenters,  that  he  actually  wages 
a  long  and  loud  war  against  Joanna  Sonf/icote,  an  old 
woman  in  England,  who,  some  time  before  she  died, 
gave  out  that  she  was  going  to  lay  an  egg. 

His  defence  of  Laud  amounts  to  a  laboured  eulogy 
upon  his  "  proud  and  haughty  virtue  ;"  his  "  towering 
spirit;"  his  "eager  and  unrelenting  zeal  against  separa- 
tists;" and  so  forth.  Qualities  these,  doubtless,  very 
appropriate  to  a  priest  of  Mars,  a  pagan  persecutor,  or 
a  popish  inquisitor  :  although  not  exactly  bearing  the 
Scriptural  marks  of  a  Christian  bishop.  Mr.  Grant, 
however,  candidly  confesses,  in  the  preface  to  the  se- 
cond volume,  how  anxiously  he  toiled  to  praise  Laud; 
his  words  are — "  as  a  St.  John's  man,  I  have  certainly 
felt  an  esprit  de  corps,  in  enteiing  into  an  ample  vin- 
dication of  archbishop  Laud.  It  cost  me  more  pains 
than  many  may  conceive  it  to  have  merited ;  yet  there 
are  minds,  which  will  deem  it  not  the  least  interesting 
part  of  the  work." 

And  after  the  example  of  bishop  Tomline,  INJr. 
Grant  vouchsafes,  in  the  eleventh  chapter,  to  quote 
the  infidel  Hume,  in  justification  of  Laud's  introduc- 
ing so  many  childish  and  superstitious  ceremonies 
into  the  church  of  England ;  because,  says  this  great 
judge  of  spiritual  influences,  "  in  a  religious  age, 
they  tend  to  mollify  that  fierce  and  gloomy  spirit  of 
devotion,  to  which  the  rude  multitude  are  subject. 
Laud  corrected  the  eri^or  of  the  first  reformers,  by 
reviving  f popish)  ceremonies ;  and  presented  to  the 
mind  some  sensible  exterior  observances,  which  re- 
called it  from  its  abstractions.      Thought  relaxed  itself 


I;j8  INFIDELITY — POPERY. 

in  the  contemplation   of  pictures,  postures,  vestments, 
buildings." 

Mr.  Grant,  probably,  when  he  called  in  Hume  to 
help  him  out  in  the  defence  of  Laud,  forgot  how  very 
successful  the  popish  church  has  always  been  in  recall- 
ing the  mind  from  its  abstractions  by  sensible  exterior 
observances ;  and  how  completely  she  has  contrived  to 
relax  all  thought  of  religion,  in  the  contemplation  of 
pictures,  postures,  vestments  and  buildings. 

And,  beyond  a  peradventure,  he  did  not  recollect 
the  observation  of  bishop  Burnet,  in  his  exposition 
of  the  twenty-third  article  of  the  Anglican  Church, 
that,  "  the  morals  of  infidels  show,  that  they  hate 
all  religions  equally ;  or,  with  this  difference,  that 
the  stricter  any  are,  the  more  they  must  hate  them  ; 
the  root  of  their  quarrel  being  at  all  religion  and 
virtue." 

Hume  therefore,  being  an  incorrigible  infidel,  very 
naturally  preferred  Laud,  for  substituting  popish  mum- 
meries and  pagan  ceremonials,  in  the  place  of  genuine 
religion,  to  the  first  reformers,  who  brouglit  back  the 
Anglican  Church  to  the  doctrinal  purity  of  the  Aposto- 
lic age. 

Mr.  Southey  seems,  likewise,  to  entertain  a  some- 
what similar  opinion  to  that  of  Mr.  Hume  and  Mr. 
Grant.  For  in  the  very  able  and  learned  chapter  on 
the  state  of  religion  in  England,  inserted  in  his  Life 
of  Mr.  Wesley,  Mr.  Southey,  although  he  acknow- 
ledges that  the  bulk  of  the  P^nglish  population  was 
essentially  heathen,  long  afte7'  their  nominal  conver- 
sion to  Christianity,  yet  is  inclined  to  attribute  much 
more  beneficial  effects  to  the  dominion  of  popery  over 
Christendom,  than  the  facts  recorded  in  history,  will 
justify. 

A  fairer  ideal  of  Utopian  policy,  he  says,  can 
scarcely  be  contemplated,  than  the  papal  scheme ; 
if  it  could  be  regarded  apart  from  the  abuses,  the 
frauds,  and  the  crimes,  to  which  it  has  given  birth. 
And  a  little  farther  onward,  he  declares,  that  the 
church   could  not   have  effected  all   this  good,   if  it 


CEIIEIMONIAL    RELIGION.  139 

had  not  employed  means,  wliich  have  been  too  indis- 
criminately condemned.  A  religion  of  rites  and  ccre- 
vioiiies  was  as  necessary  for  the  rude  and  ferocious 
nations,  which  overthrew  the  Roman  empire,  as  for 
the  Israelites,  when  they  were  brought  out  of  JEgypt. 
Pomp,  and  wealth,  and  authority,  were  essential  to  its 
success." 

What  spiritual  good  was  ever  effected  by  the  papal 
scheme,  no  history  has  yet  informed  us.  But  cer- 
tainly, a  religion  of  rites  and  ceremonies  has  7iever 
yet  been  made  an  instrument  in  the  hand  of  God, 
to  evangelize  any  nation,  whether  barbarous,  or  semi- 
savage,  or  civilized.  Our  blessed  Lord  and  Saviour 
himself,  while  on  earth,  shrouding  his  Godhead  in 
the  incarnation,  used  no  such  means ;  but  adopted 
the  plainest  preaching  of  redeeming  truth,  in  direct 
opposition  to  a  religion,  full,  even  to  the  overflow- 
ing, of  the  most  magnificent,  and  burdensome  rites 
and  ceremonies. 

His  apostles  and  disciples,  acting  under  the  im- 
mediate inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  used  no  such 
means ;  but  by  the  unadorned  foolishness  of  Gospel 
preaching  encountered  and  vanquished  barbarian  hordes, 
quite  as  rude  and  ferocious  as  were  the  northern  and 
eastern  conquerors  of  imperial  Rome.  Nor  do  the 
faithful  followers  of  their  Divine  Master,  the  successors 
and  imitators  of  his  Apostles,  the  evangelical  missiona- 
ries of  the  present  day,  use  any  such  means ;  and 
they  propound  the  everlasting  Gospel  to  the  darkest 
idolaters,  the  fiercest  savages,  the  bloodiest  cannibals, 
in  Africa,  in  Asia,  and  in  America,  that  ever  dis- 
graced the  human  form,  or  inflicted  suffering  upon 
the  human  race. 

The  universal  experience  of  the  history  of  the 
church  of  Christ,  proves,  that  the  only  effectual  way 
to  convert  sinners  from  the  service  of  sin,  and  self, 
and  Satan,  unto  God,  is  to  preach  Jesus  Christ,  and 
him  crucified ;  whether  to  professed  pagans,  or  to 
nominal  Christians  ;  whether  to  the  children  of  civil- 
ization,   or  of  entire  barbarism,    or   of  half  culture ; 


140  CHAllACTKR    OF    I.Al'D. 

leaving  a  religion  of  rites,  and  ceremonies,  and  pomp, 
and  wealth,  and  autliority,  to  heathen  priestcraft,  and 
persecuting  popery,  and  established  formalism. 

Bishop  Burnet,  an  Arminian,  and  who  certainly 
laboured,  tlirough  a  long  life,  to  uphold  the  interests 
of  the  Anglican  Cluirch,  describes  Laud  as  a  hot, 
indiscreet  man,  eagerly  pursuing  matters,  either  very 
inconsiderable  or  mischievous;  such  as  setting  the 
communion  table  by  the  east  walls  of  churches,  bowing 
to  it,  and  calling  it  the  altar;  the  suppressing  the 
Walloon's  privileges ;  the  breaking  of  lectures  ;  the 
encouraging  sports  on  the  Lord's  day  ;  and  other 
similar  matters,  on  which  all  the  zeal  and  heat  of  the 
time  was  laid  out. 

His  severity  in  the  star-chamber,  and  high  com- 
mission court ;  his  violent  and  inexcusable  injustice, 
in  prosecuting  bishop  Williams ;  were  such  visible 
blemishes,  that  nothing  but  the  putting  him  to  death 
in  the  manner  his  enemies  did,  could  have  raised  his 
character,  and  set  him  up  as  a  pattern  to  all  succeeding 
clergymen,  who  have  adopted  his  notions,  as  tests  by 
which  to  try  if  men  be  stanch  to  the  English  church 
establishment.  His  own  diary  represents  him  as  an 
abject  fawner  on  the  duke  of  Buckingham,  and  a 
superstitious  rcgarder  of  dreams. 

His  defence  of  himself,  written  with  so  much  care, 
in  the  Tower,  is  a  very  mean  performance.  In  it,  his 
intention  is  to  appeal  to  the  world ;  in  most  particulars 
he  excuses  himself,  that  he  was  only  one  of  many,  who, 
either  in  council,  star-chamber,  or  liigh  commission, 
voted  illegal  things.  Now,  allowing  this  to  be  true. 
Laud,  as  chief  minister  and  prime  favourite  of  Charles, 
moved  the  other  members  as  so  many  miserable  ma- 
chines. 

On  other  occasions  he  says,  the  fact  against  him 
was  proved  by  only  one  witness.  But  how  valid 
soever  this  defence  may  be  in  law,  such  special  plead- 
ing is  inconclusive  in  an  appeal  to  the  world ;  for  if  his 
guilt  be  real,  in  the  eye  of  common  morality,  no  mat- 
ter whether  the    proof  be   abundant  or   scanty.     One 


MODERN    TflKOI.OGY.  141 

of  the  most  disgusting  things  in  this  book  is,  that  after 
he  had  seen  the  evil  effects  of  his  violent  counsels, 
and  had  been  so  long  shut  up,  and  so  long  at  leisure 
to  reflect  on  what  passed  in  the  heat  of  passion,  or  in 
the  pride  of  prosperity,  he  does  not,  in  any  one  part 
of  that  great  work,  acknowledge  his  own  errors,  nor 
mix  in  it  any  wise  or  pious  reflections  on  the  usage 
he  experienced,  or  the  unhappy  steps  he  had  made ; 
so  that,  while  his  enemies  magnified  him  by  their  pro- 
secution unto  death  ;  his  friends,  Heylin  and  VVhar- 
ton,  have  as  much  diminished  him ;  the  one  by  writing 
his  life,  and  the  other  by  publisliing  his  vindication  of 

himself 

The  Arminianism  of  Laud,  and  his  followers,  in  the 
Anglican  Church,  from  the  time  of  the  first  Charles 
to   the   present   hour,   is,    in  fact,  though   not   openly 
avowed  in  words,  but  little   better  than  the   doctrine 
introduced  in  the  fifth  century  of  the  Christian   era, 
by  Morgan,  a  Welshman,  more  commonly  known  by 
the  name  of  Pelagius.     The  foundation  of  this  scheme 
is,  that  death  was  not  the  consequence  of  sin,  but  the 
effect  of  an   original  law  of  creation  ;   that  the  sin  of 
Adam   affected   himself  only,  and,  of  course,  there   is 
no  original   sin,  nor  human  depravity ;   that  the  grace 
or  favour  of  God  is  given  according  to  human  deserts ; 
and  that  our  free  will,  not   Divine  influence,  is  the 
source  of  all  human  piety. 

Now  this  system  does  not  very  materially  differ  from 
the  scheme  of  our  modern  formalists ;  as  broached  by 
themselves,  and  told  in  their  own  way. 

Dr.  Gleig  is  a  bishop  of  the  episcopal  church  in 
Scotland,  and  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  admired  of 
the  contributors  to  the  British  Critic,  and  the  Anti- 
jacobin  Review  ;  two  journals,  avowedly  instituted  and 
supported  as  orthodox  champions  of  the  Anglican 
Church  establishment ;  and  the  sworn  foes  of  all  non- 
episcopalians  ;  but  more  particularly  inveterate  against 
all  evangelicals,  whether  in  or  out  of  the  pale  of  the 
state  church.     Bishop  Gleig  has  inserted  a  disserta- 


142  BISHOP    GLEIG. 

tion   on   original   sin,  in    his  edition  of  Stackhouse's 
History  of  the  Bible. 

Able  and  learned,  undoubtedly,  is  this  dissertation  ; 
as,  indeed,  are  all  the  writings  of  the  author  of  the 
articles,  metaphysics  and  theology,  in  the  Encyclopedia 
Britannica ;  but  its  ortliodoxy,  to  say  nothing  of  its 
evangelism,  many  will  be  disposed  to  doubt,  when 
they  find  that  it  teaches,  how  Adam's  disobedience  to 
the  Divine  command  only  incurred  the  penalty  of 
bodily  death  ;  that  his  posterity  derive  no  moral  taint 
or  corruption  from  him  ;  that  children  are  born  into 
the  world  quite  pure  and  innocent ;  that  all  the  ini- 
quity of  human  kind  proceeds  from  the  errors  of 
education  and  association  :  in  a  word,  that  there  is  no 
such  tiling  as  original  or  birth  sin  ;  the  ninth  article 
of  the  church,  in  which  Dr.  Gleig  is  a  bishop,  and 
which  article  he  must  have  often  subscribed,  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding. 

Bishop  Gleig,  with  an  edifying  simplicity,  marvels 
in  a  note,  that  his  Scottish  neighbours  fancy  they 
smell  a  strong  savour  of  Socinianism  in  these  episcopal 
effusions ;  which  are  dedicated,  "  by  permission,""  to 
Dr.  Manners  Sutton,  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
primate  of  England,  and  spiritual  father  of  the  An- 
glican Church  establishment. 

It  is  not  within  our  present  scope  to  enter  into  much 
detail,  respecting  that  important  period  of  ecclesiastical 
history,  which  shows  by  what  means  the  merciless 
Laud  caused  the  general  prevalence  of  formalism  in 
the  church  of  England;  but  let  us  pause  a  moment 
over  a  few  facts  and  observations,  in  regard  to  that 
most  fatal  blow  to  the  piety,  peace  and  usefulness  of 
the  Anglican  ecclesiastical  establishment. 

The  Christian  Observer  for  1820,  in  reviewing 
Cromwell's  Memoirs  of  Cromwell,  and  dean  Kenney's 
ravings  about  radical  reformers,  says,  that  every  care 
was  taken  by  misjudging  politicians,  particularly  by 
the  ill  starred  and  never  to  be  forgotten  archbishop 
Laud,  to  inflame  party  spirit  to  its  highest  pitch,  and 


DOGMATISM.  143 

to  force  upon  tlie  opposite  party,  by  his  conduct  to- 
wards them,  a  feeling  correspondent  with  his  own  ;  of 
haughty  self-approbation,  and  entire  contempt  of  all 
differing  sentiments  and  systems.  He  seemed  deter- 
mined that  those  not  of  his  party  should  differ  from  him, 
till  tliey  did  differ  ;  and  resolved  that  they  shoidd  hate 
him,  till  they  did  hate  him.  He  insisted  that  they 
werc^  till  he  compelled  them  to  become  enemies  of  a 
persecuting  state  and  church  ;  and  to  overwhelm  him, 
and  tlie  secular  government  that  upheld  his  schemes,  in 
one  common  ruin. 

Under  his  auspices,  and  by  his  direction,  intempe- 
rate zeal  and  overweening  self-confidence  became 
the  law  of  religion ;  and  men  saw,  understood,  ap- 
proved nothing  but  their  own  opinion.  In  what  respect 
does  this  conduct  differ  from  that  pursued  by  the  ma- 
jority of  the  English  state  clergy,  towards  all  who 
profess  evangelism,  whether  in  or  out  of  the  national 
church  establishment,  at  this  hour?  that  is  to  say,  so 
far  as  the  law  of  the  land  allows.  The  toleration  act 
of  AA^'illiam  protects  dissenters  from  the  fangs  of  es- 
tablished persecution ;  but  unbeneficed  evangelical 
churchmen  have  no  refuge  against  the  wrath  of  their 
formal  diocesans. 

Strong  dogmatism  in  religious  opinion  is  frequently 
akin  to  confusion  and  every  evil  work.  Dogmatism 
on  free  will  and  free  grace,  has  been  equally  pernicious  ; 
if  Cromwell  and  the  puritans  of  England  were  decided 
Calvinists,  the  turbulent  and  rebellious  remonstrants  of 
Holland  propounded  an  opposite  dogma;  and  the  tyran- 
nical Laud  professed  to  be  a  high  toned,  systematic 
Arminian  ;  though,  in  fact,  he  was  a  thoroughgoing 
formalist,  and  alike  hostile  to  all  evangelica]  piety, 
whether  found  in  the  followers  of  John  Calvin,  or  of 
James  Harmesen. 

Christians,  therefore,  should  cultivate  a  Christian 
spirit  more,  and  a  wordy  war  about  party  opinions  less  ; 
and  take  their  standard  of  conduct  and  feeling,  as  well 
as  their  doctrine,  from  the  Bible  alone. 


144  Py\rty  feeijng.     o. —  p. 

All  party  feeling,  whether  connected  with  this  or 
that  outward  form  of  doctrine,  or  worship,  or  church 
government,  is  ruinous  to  religion ;  and  most  nefa- 
rious are  the  attempts,  now  made  by  formal  divines 
of  all  the  gradations  of  rank  in  the  state  cluirch,  to 
prove  the  existence,  and  to  promote  the  spirit  of  a 
religious  schism  among  the  I^lnglish  established  clergy, 
adverse  to  the  existing  order  of  cliurch  and  state. 
No  such  schism  exists,  notwithstanding  the  unhal- 
lowed efforts  of  the  formalists  to  provoke  it,  and  to 
produce  and  perpetuate  a  hostile  division  between 
the  evangelical  clergy  in  the  establishment,  and  them- 
selves. 

Among  other  causes,  the  British  and  Foreign  Eible 
Society  has  been  tlie  means  of  preventing  or  remov- 
ing a  schism  in  the  xlnglican  Church.  Though  even  now 
it  is  said,  that,  in  imitation  of  Laud's  infamous  prece- 
dent, certain  lists  of  the  national  clergy  are  handed  about 
among  the  cabinet  ministers  and  the  episcopal  bench, 
marked  O,  for  orthodox,  or  formal,  and  P,  for  puritan, 
or  evangelical ;  that  church  preferment  might  follow 
accordingly  ;  and  the  establishment  be  as  thoroughly 
cleansed  from  all  pure  religion  and  vital  piety,  as  it  was 
by  Laud  and  the  star-chamber,  under  Charles  the  first ; 
and  by  Sheldon  and  the  Bartholomew  act,  under  Charles 
the  second. 

Infinite  pains  are  taken  by  the  established  formal- 
ists, to  persuade  the  evangelicals  to  become  discon- 
tented with  the  existing  order  of  things,  by  assuring 
them  that  they  are  so  ,  and  when  they  strongly  deny 
it,  by  still  again  insisting  that  they  are,  and  must,  and 
shall  be  discontented.  Loud  charges  of  schismatical 
guilt  are  continually  growled  forth  from  all  the  con- 
duit pipes  of  formalism  ;  and  there  is  not  a  pious  pas- 
tor of  a  tlock,  in  any  English  parish,  far  or  near, 
large  or  small,  public  or  retired,  but  the  ungodly  part 
of  his  conorepation  has  sufficient  warrant  from  innu- 
merable  publications,  in  the  shape  of  books,  jour- 
nals,   and    pamphlets,    both    priestly    and    prelatical. 


CHUHCH    PREFERMENT.  145 

every  month,  or  week,  or  day,  or  hour,  to  revile  him  as 
a  methodist,  Calviiiist,  puritan,  fanatic,  enthusiast, 
iiypocrite,  and  the  like. 

Nay,  on  such  base  pa?iy  misrepresentations  and  ca- 
lumnies are  the  churcli  preferments  dispensed  ;  and, 
for  the  most  part,  effectual  care  is  taken  to  exclude 
from  the  mitre,  the  stall,  and  the  benefice,  those  who 
faithfully  preach  the  evangelical  doctrines  of  the  Bible; 
of  the  lleforniation  ;  of  the  public  formularies  of  the 
Anglican  Church. 

Is  i/m  the  mode  by  which  the  national  cluu-ch  esta- 
blishment is  to  promote  piety,  and  prevent  heathenism, 
througliout  England,  Wales  and  Ireland? 

Such,  however,  arc  the  legitimate  fruits  of  that 
formal,  irreligious,  persecuting  spirit,  which  Laud  en- 
tailed upon  the  church  of  England.  How  fit  that 
execrable  high  priest  was  to  administer  metropolitan 
jurisdiction,  may  appear  from  what  his  own  friend. 
Clarendon,  who  labours  hard  to  extenuate  his  nial-con- 
duet,  saj^s  of  him. 

When  he.  Laud — writes  the  noble  historian — came 
into  great  authority,  it  may  be,  he  retained  too  keen 
a  memory  of  those  who  had  unjustly  and  uncharitably 
persecuted  him  before ;  and,  I  doubt  not,  was  so  far 
transported  with  the  same  passions  he  had  reason  to 
complain  of  in  his  adversaries,  that,  as  they  accused 
him  of  popery,  because  he  had  some  doctrinal  opinions 
they  liked  not ;  so  he  entertained  too  much  prejudice 
to  some  persons,  as  if  they  were  enemies  to  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  church,  because  they  concurred  with 
Calvin  in  some  doctrinal  points ;  when  they  disliked 
/lis  discipline,  and  reverenced  the  government  of  the 
church,  and  prayed  for  the  peace  of  it,  with  as  much 
zeal  and  fervency  as  any  in  the  kingdom ;  as  they  made 
manifest  in  their  lives,  and  in  their  sufferings  with  it, 
and  for  it. 

•  The  archbishop,  with  the  primacy  in  his  hand,  and 
the  king  at  his  elbow,  inspired  with  the  saiue  zeal, 
now  made  haste  to  apply  remedies  to  those  diseases, 
which  he  saw  would  grow  apace.     Laud  never  abated 


146       clarendon's  apothegm. 

any  thing  of  his  severity  and  rigour  towards  men  of 
all  conditions  ;  or  in  the  shai'pncss  of  his  language  and 
expressions,  which  was  so  natural  to  him,  that  he 
could  not  debate  any  thing  without  some  commotion, 
when  the  argument  was  not  of  moment ;  nor  bear  con- 
tradiction in  debate,  even  in  the  council,  where  all 
men  are  equally  free,  with  the  necessary  patience  and 
temper ;  of  which  they,  who  wished  him  not  well,  took 
advantage,  and  contradicted  him  into  some  transport 
of  indecent  passion.  Lord  Cottington  would  lead  him 
into  some  political  error,  drive  him  into  choler,  expose 
him  to  the  company,  in  presence  of  the  king,  and  go 
and  dine  with  him  the  next  day. 

It  is  evident  that  Clarendon,  in  his  elaborate  and 
extended  character  of  the  archbishop,  intends  to  lay  the 
whole  blame  of  subsequent  events  upon  the  hot-hcaded- 
ness  of  Laud ;  and  to  hold  him  up  as  a  lasting  example 
to  mankind,  in  proof,  that  no  pretence  of  good  inten- 
tions, and  no  sincerity  of  mistaken  zeal,  could  excuse 
a  man  for  undertaking  that,  to  which  he  was  wholly 
incomi)etent,  and  from  the  wrong  conduct  of  which, 
every  one,  eoccept  Laud  and  Charles,  foresaw  the  inevi- 
table ruin  of  both  church  and  state. 

It  was  in  reference  to  the  deadly  consequences  of 
the  insane  high  churchmanship  of  this  peevish,  pas- 
sionate old  man,  that  Clarendon  uttered  his  memo- 
rable apothegm  ; — "  that  of  all  persons  who  can  read 
and  write,  the  (state)  clergy  are  the  most  innocent  of 
any  practical  wisdom,  or  common  sense," 

Such  was  the  adviser,  to  whom,  exclusively,  after  the 
death  of  Buckingham,  and  in  Strafford's  absence, 
Charles  abandoned  himself.  Laud  took  every  advan- 
tage of  this  misplaced  confidence ;  and,  among  other 
expedients  for  guiding  the  movements  of  the  royal 
puppet,  prepared  a  list  of  established  clergy,  secretly 
marked  with  O,  for  orthodox,  and  P.  for  puritan  ; 
which  he  presented,  first  to  the  duke  of  Buckingham, 
and  then  to  the  king;  a  measure  directly  calculated  to 
widen,  irreparably,  the  breach  then  beginning  between 
loyal  subjects  in  both  lists.     With  which  join  his  silly 


LAI]])    IN    SCOTLAND.  147 

additions  to  the  ceremonial  of  the  church  ;  enforced, 
however,  in  their  observance,  with  all  the  bloody  bru- 
tality of  prelatical  formalism. 

But  the  consummation  of  his  clerical  and  civil 
policy  was  exhibited  in  his  expedition  to  Scotland ; 
to  impose,  hy  force,  an  entire  new  church  of  ICngland 
ritual  on  the  Caledonian  descendants  of  Knox  and 
Balcanquhal.  At  the  moment  when  a  mine,  laid  by 
his  own  follv  and  wickedness,  was  about  to  be  sprun^" 
under  the  feet  of  his  royal  master,  does  this  weak, 
insolent  old  man  crawl  to  Edinburgh,  to  touch,  with 
childish  hand,  that  fearful  spring  of  popular  feeling, 
which  instantly  v/rappcd  all  Scotland  in  a  flame  of 
fire  ;  armed  a  powerful  band  against  the  territory  of 
England,  and  threw  a  great  body  of  auxiliaries,  mili- 
tary, civil  and  clerical,  into  the  ranks  of  the  Englisli 
puritans ;  which  at  once  turned  the  doubtful  scale, 
and  brought  on  the  long  poised  ruin,  in  one  hideous, 
wild  uproar,  upon  himself,  his  party,  his  church  and 
his  king. 

When  the  active  energy  of  Strafford  himself  could 
not  withstand  the  mighty  desolation ;  is  it  surprising 
that  the  poor,  old,  irritable,  tremulous  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  with  his  sliarp  answers,  and  closet  learn- 
ing, and  idle  ceremonial,  sank,  like  a  baseless  co- 
lumn, in  the  ruin  occasioned  by  his  own  weakness 
and  tyranny  ? 

The  puritans,  galled  to  madness  by  the  dissolution 
of  parliaments,  and  by  Laud's  incessant  persecution, 
at  length  opposed  their  effectual  resistance.  Their 
main  grievances,  as  stated  by  themselves,  were,  Laud's 
encouraging,  and  preferring  a  formal  and  superstitious 
state  clergy,  and  discouraging  the  sober  and  virtuous 
ministers;  and  imposing  upon  all,  the  inventions  of 
men,  in  the  room  of  the  institutions  of  God. 

Some  modern  writers  discover  tlic  presbyterian 
and  puritanical  spirit  of  the  parliament,  in  its  treat- 
ment of  the  episcopal  clergy.  But  what  was  the  con- 
duct of  that  clergy,  as  led   and   instigated  by  Laud? 

L  2 


148  ENGLISH    STATi:    CLERCxY. 

There  was  a  general  outcry  for  civil  liberty  in  the 
English  nation  ;  and  Sibthorpe  and  Mainwaring  preach- 
ed sermons,  which  were  industriously  spread  by  the 
court,  over  the  kingdom.  In  these  sermons  passive 
obedience  was  recommended  in  its  full  extent ;  the 
xvhole  authority  of  the  state  was  represented  as  belong- 
ing to  the  king  alone;  and  all  limitations  of  law 
and  a  constitution,  were  rejected  as  seditious  and 
impious. 

So  openly  was  this  flagitious  doctrine  espoused  by 
the  court,  that  archbisliop  Abbot,  for  refusing  to  li- 
cense Sibthorpe's  sermon,  was  suspended  from  the 
exercise  of  his  office,  banished  from  London,  and 
confined  to  a  country  seat.  Abbot's  principles  of  liber- 
ty, and  opposition  to  Buckingham,  rendered  him  un- 
gracious at  court,  and  procured  the  reproach  of  being 
a  puritan.  The  puritans  made  the  privileges  of  the 
nation  a  part  of  their  religion ;  and  the  high  church 
party  were  equally  zealous  for  the  absolute  prerogatives 
of  the  crown. 

Mainwaring,  for  his  sermon,  was  impeached  and 
punished  by  parliament;  but  no  sooner  was  the  ses- 
sion ended,  than  this  man,  so  justly  obnoxious  to  the 
legislature,  and  to  every  honest  person  in  England, 
received  a  pardon  from  the  king,  and  a  valuable  living 
in  the  church  establishment.  Some  years  after,  he 
was  made  bishop  of  St.  Asaph's.  In  such  good  odour 
were  formal,  secular  state  clergy  in  the  royal  nostrils  of 
the  first  Charles. 

At  this  period,  also,  there  was  a  very  general  desire 
in  the  more  serious  part  of  the  people  of  England,  for 
the  better  observance  of  the  Lord's  day.  In  answer 
to  which,  out  comes,  under  the  sanction  and  by  the 
command  of  Charles  and  Laud,  the  Book  of  Sports ; 
enjoined  to  be  read  in  all  parish  churches  Now,  what 
was  the  burden  of  this  book,  issued  by  a  Christian 
king,  and  a  protestant  bishop  ? 

"  Our  pleasure  likewise  is,  that  the  bishop  of  that 
diocese  take  the  like  straight  order  with  all  the  pu- 
ritans   and    precisians,  within   the    same ;    eitlier   con- 


NKW-YORK    SABBATH.  149 

straining  tbcin  to  conform  themselves,  or  to  Leave  the 
country,  according  to  the  laws  of  our  kingdom,  and 
canons  of  our  church  ;  and  so  to  strike  equally  on  botli 
hands,  against  the  contemners  of  our  authority,  and 
adversaries  of  our  church.  And  as  for  our  good  peo- 
ple's recreation,  our  pleasure  likewise  is,  that  after  the 
end  of  divine  service,  our  good  people  be  not  disturbed, 
letted,  or  discouraged  from  any  lawful  recreation  ;  such 
as  dancing,  cither  men  or  women;  archery  for  men, 
leaping,  vaulting,  or  any  other  such  harmless  recrea- 
tion ;  nor  from  having  less  recreation ;  nor  from  having  of 
May-games,  whitsun-ales  and  morris-dances,  and  the 
setting  up  of  May- poles,  and  other  sports  therewith 
used,  &c." 

This  measure  of  the  legal  head  of  the  establishment, 
doubtless,  was  as  well  calculated  to  recommend  the 
religion  of  the  Anglican  Church,  as  the  sermons  of 
Sibthorpe  and  Mainwaring  were  to  manifest  its  love 
of  liberty. 

Has  a  copy  of  Lauds  Book  of  Sports  found  its 
way  into  the  city  of  New- York  ?  In  the  month  of 
July  1821,  several  of  the  most  respectable  and  me- 
ritorious of  the  clergy,  of  various  denominations,  pro- 
posed to  the  corporation  to  call  a  meeting  in  the  City 
Hall,  in  order  to  devise  some  means  of  bringing  about 
a  better  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  than  the  present 
too  prevailing  mode  of  spending  that  sacred  day, 
in  steam-boat  excursions,  in  public  gardens,  in 
taverns,  in  carriages,  on  horseback  ;  in  a  word,  any 
where,  and  any  how,  except  attending  divine  wor- 
ship. The  proposal  was  merely  to  procure  the  execu- 
tion of  the  laws  already  in  being,  for  the  decent  obser- 
vance of  the  Lord's  day. 

Immediately,  those  profound  theologians,  the  doers 
of  newspapers.  Christian,  Jew  and  Gentile,  opened 
in  full  cry  against  these  clergy,  for  their  unmannerly 
interference  with  the  Sabbatical  recreations  of  a  free 
and  an  enlightened  people.  The  epithets,  "  puritan, 
persecuting,  ambitious,  hypocritical,  intolerant,'  and 
so   forth,  rang  from   side  to  side,  against  these  unfor- 


150  CHURCH    OVERTHROW. 

tunate  divines.  A  large  counter-meetmg  was  got  up, 
consisting'  of  the  purest  patriots  in  the  community, 
among  whom  were  some  hundreds  of  Hebrews,  the  best 
of  all  possible  judges  how  a  Christian  Sabbath  ought  to 
be  kept ;  and  this  goodly  concourse  of  pious  people  pass- 
ed a  resolution,  that  the  interference  of  clergy  in  such 
matters  was  highly  improper.  Huge  outcries  were 
raised  against  church  and  state,  clerical  tyranny,  and 
similar  enormities  ;  and  all  design  of  keeping  the  Lord's 
day  any  better  in  future,  than  in  time  past,  was  com- 
pletely quashed. 

It  is  but  justice  to  state,  that  the  newspapers  dis- 
tinctly declared,  that  the  New- York  protestant  epis- 
copal clergy,  generally,  had  no  part  nor  lot  in  this  at- 
tempt to  procure  a  more  devout  observance  of  the  Sab- 
bath. 

During  Laud's  wza/administration  of  church  and  state, 
the  stream  of  national  feeling  ran  strongly  against 
popery  ;  and  the  sage  and  sagacious  primate  delighted 
to  brave  and  insult  public  opinion.  So  suspicious 
was  his  conduct,  that  not  only  the  puritans  believed 
the  established  church  of  England  to  be  relapsing 
fast  into  popish  superstition ;  but  the  court  of  Rome 
itself  expected  it,  and  twice  offered  Laud  a  cardinal's 
hat,  which  he  faintly  declined ;  probably,  because 
the  scheme  was  not  yet  ripe.  Succeeding  events 
frustrated  the  project  of  a  reunion  between  the  Angli- 
can and  Roman  churches;  a  project,  recently  revived 
by  Mr.  Samuel  Wix,  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  abat- 
ing two  great  nuisances  in  the  eyes  of  po])ery  and 
formalism.  But  an  enormity,  which  William  Laud 
could  not  perpetrate  in  the  seventeenth,  is  not  very 
likely  to  be  achieved  by  Samuel  Wix,  in  the  nine- 
teenth century. 

The  consequence  of  Laud's  idiotic  and  unprinci- 
pled conduct,  was  a  universal  execration  of  the  Eng- 
lish church  establishment ;  as  the  nursery  of  super- 
stition and  impiety ;  the  arsenal  of  clerical  and  civil 
tyranny  and  persecution.  And,  accordingly,  it  was 
swept  away  by   the  tide   of  indignant  rebellion,  when 


MODERN    rORMALISTS.  151 

the  pGOi)le  of  England  had  been  compelled  to  drain  to 
its  very  dregs,  the  cup  of  suffering  and  insult,  prepared 
for,  and  administered  to  them,  by  the  hands  of  this 
execrable  arch  formalist. 

Hume,  Mosheim,  Clarendon,  Burnet — all  who  have 
written  with  any  intelligence  and  honesty,  respecting  this 
period,  however  differing  from  each  other  in  religious 
and  political  opinions — unite  in  attributing  the  tem- 
porary overthrow  of  the  English  monarchy  and  eccle- 
siastical establishment,  to  the  arbitrary  cruelty,  and 
senseless  superstition,  and  exclusive  churchmanship  of 
Laud. 

The  legitimate  successors  of  Laud,  the  secular,  for- 
mal state  clergy  of  the  present  day,  incessantly  revile 
all  evangelical  preachers,  as  unsouJid  members  of  the 
Anglican  Church  ;  and,  at  the  best,  as  persons  of 
questionable  loyalty  to  the  British  government.  The 
wilful,  deliherate  falsehood  of  these  charges,  is  not  the 
greatest  evil.  Their  direct  tendency  is  to  degrade  and 
destroy  the  established  church. 

When  other  religious  denominations  observe  the 
unsparing  calumnies,  with  which  so  many  of  the  most 
active,  able,  useful  and  learned  of  the  national  clergy 
are,  merely  because  they  preach  the  Gospel  faithfully, 
and  live  a  holy  life,  pursued  and  persecuted  by  a 
party  calling  itself  orthodox ;  when  they  find  bishops, 
and  deans,  and  archdeacons,  and  rectors,  and  vicars, 
and  even  unfledged  curates,  joining  in  the  vulgar 
cant  and  cry ;  must  they  not  conclude,  that  the  church 
establishment  loves  party  strife  better  than  its  Bible 
and  its  public  formularies;  and  that  it  is  hastening 
to  share  the  fate  of  a  house  divided  against  itself? 

InfideUtij,  too,  which  is  always  closely  coupled 
with,  and  invariably  aided  by,  formalism,  is  peculiarly 
alert  and  stirring  in  England  now  ;  and  cannot  fail 
to  thrive  mightily  by  the  present  efforts  of  the  formal 
state  clergy,  to  break  down  the  only  barrier  against 
irreligion  and  profligacy,  in  the  Anglican  Church, 
by  rooting  all  evangelism  out  of  it.  The  Christian 
Observer  asks,    with  emphasis,   if  tJiis  is  a  time  to  cast 


152  COMPULSORY    UNIFORMITY. 

suspicion  upon  those,  who  serve  in  the  same  chuvcli, 
and  minister  at  the  same  altar ;  to  tear  asmulcr  the 
bands  which  unite  us  with  any  class  of  Christians, 
in  the  interests  of  the  Christian  faith  ;  to  follow  the 
example  of  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  when  the 
avenging  army  was  at  their  gates ;  to  fight  about  a 
few  mysterious  points,  which,  till  the  consummation  of 
all  things,  never  can  be  settled,  while  the  enemy  is 
going  round  our  bulwarks,  and  counting  our  towers, 
and  undermining  the  very  foundations  of  the  Christian 
temple  ? 

If  it  w^ere  possible  for  formalism  to  learn  the  neces- 
sity of  forbearance,  of  toleration,  of  charity,  she  might 
derive  the  salutary  lesson  from  the  history  of  the  first 
Charles  ;  which  shows,  in  glaring  colours,  the  impolicy, 
as  well  as  the  injustice  of  classing  whole  bodies  of  men, 
wantonly  and  indiscriminately,  under  an  oppi^ohrious 
name ;  and  of  treating  as  enemies  to  the  state,  all  who 
do  not  exactly  coincide  with  the  powers  that  be,  about 
church  government. 

By  uniting  the  political  and  religious  puritans,  who 
had,  otherwise,  no  necessary  connexion,  and  by  af- 
fecting to  treat  them  all  as  of  the  same  faction,  Laud 
forced  the  people  of  England  into  a  resistless  rebel- 
lion. In  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  modern  formalists 
in  the  English  church  establishment,  there  will  still 
be  Calvinistic  dissenters,  who  may  be  provoked  by  ca- 
lumny, but  cannot  be  bullied  into  conformity.  When 
Eaud  began  to  persecute  the  puritans,  he  hoped,  as 
James  the  first  had  hoped  before  him,  either  to  make 
them  conform,  or  "to  harry  them  out  of  the  country." 
He  used  most  cruelly  oppressive  courts,  and  exten- 
sive powers  to  compel  conformity,  and  failed.  The 
bloody  ]Mary,  who,  perhaps,  had  more  power,  but, 
certainly,  not  more  cruelty  than  Laud,  was  unable  to 
produce  uniformity  of  doctrine,  worship,  or  disci- 
pline. 

Indeed,  the  fulness  of  universal  formalism  cannot 
be   produced,  in    P^ngland,    or    in   any  other   country. 


SIN    OF    SCHISM.  15ti 

except  by  a  system  of  general  and  pitiless  extermina- 
tion ;  a  system,  which  could  not  be  carried  into  com- 
plete effect,  even  under  the  Tudors  and  Stuarts,  by 
Bonner  and  by  Laud ;  and  which,  in  the  present  condi- 
tion of  Christendom,  is  not  very  likely  to  be  intrusted 
to  the  orthodox  hands,  either  of  the  bishop  of  Winches- 
ter, or  of  the  Peterborough  diocesan,  or  of  the  dean  of 
Achonry. 

The  formal  paiiy  spirit,  which  is  now  fast  ruining 
the  English  church  establishment,  has  been  rife  in  that 
body,  ever  since  its  first  introduction  by  Laud.  Bishop 
Burnet  incessantly  complains  of  its  existence,  and 
ruinous  tendency,  during  the  reigns  of  the  second 
Charles  and  James,  and  William,  and  Ann.  It  pro- 
duced the  Bartholomew,  the  Conventicle,  and  the  Five 
Mile  acts,  in  England,  and  the  horrible  persecutions 
in  Scotland  ;  it  defeated  the  plan  of  king  William  for 
gaining  the  dissenters  by  conciliatory  measures ;  it 
pursued  Tillotson  with  revilings  to  his  grave,  because 
he  would  not  lend  his  aid  to  intolerance  and  per- 
secution ;  and  it  now  labours  to  cast  out  of  the  esta- 
blishment altogether,  the  comparatively  small  portion 
of  evangelical  clergy,  who  alone,  by  their  existence  and 
exertion,  preserve  that  establishment  from  impending 
perdition. 

A  constant  cry,  now  sent  forth  by  the  formalists  in 
the  ICnglish  church  establishment,  is  uttered  against 
"  the  sin  of  schism,'''  by  which  they  mean  a  departure 
from,  or  a  refusal  to  join  their  own  particular  mode  of 
ecclesiastical  discipline  and  worship. 

Schism  is  a  word  in  high  repute  among  established 
churches,  and  applied  liberally  to  all  who  stray  be- 
yond their  legal  pale.  For  example,  the  Anglican 
Church  calls  all  dissenters  from  her  ecclesiastical 
scheme,  schismatics  ;  and  tlie  kirk  of  Scotland  com- 
pliments with  the  same  title,  all  seceders  from  her 
communion.  But  schism  is  a  rending  of  the  body  of 
Christ ;  that  is,  the  church  of  Christ,  which  is  com- 
posed of  all  true  believers,  wherever  situated,  and 
whenever  living.     This  Christian  church,  this  church 


154  PllESBYTERIAN    PERSECUTION. 

universal,  is  not  confined  to  any  particular,  outward, 
visible  sect,  or  denomination,  whether  established  by 
law,  as  a  state  church,  or  otherwise;  whether  episco- 
palian, or  presbyterian,  or  congregational;  but  includes 
all,  of  every  various  persuasion,  who  worship  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  in  singleness  of  heart,  in  simplicity  and 
in  truth.  The  bond  of  catholic  union  between  Chris- 
tian churches  is  a  common  Jaith^  not  a  common  church 
government. 

Schism,  therefore,  means  a  departure  from  sound  evan- 
gelical doctrine,  and  not  from  any  particular  form  of 
church  government  or  discipline.  Hence,  all  Arians, 
Socinians,  formalists  ;  all  who  mutilate,  or  corrupt,  or 
deny,  or  keep  out  of  sight,  the  pure  doctrines  of  the  ever 
blessed  Gospel,  are  schismatics;  whether  they  be  church- 
men, or  presbyterians,  or  independents,  or  methodists, 
or  baptists,  or  any  other  sect  or  portion  of  the  visible 
Christian  church. 

At  length.  Laud,  for  his  intolerance,  cruelty,  op- 
pression and  insolence,  was  brought  to  the  block,  and 
state  episcopacy  abolished.  The  Westminster  assembly 
of  divines  framed  a  directory  for  worship,  which  su- 
perseded the  common  prayer  book  ;  and  the  presbyte- 
rians exercised  their  ecclesiastical  dominion,  during 
the  little  hour  of  their  political  ascendancy,  with 
the  same  intolerance  and  injustice,  which  had  been 
displayed  towards  themselves  by  their  episcopalian  per- 
secutors. 

Another  pregnant  proof  this,  of  the  folly  and  wick- 
edness of  giving  to  a7iy  church,  to  any  religious  com- 
munity, secular  and  military  power,  wherewith  to  in- 
jure and  harass  those  who  differ  from  it  in  opinion. 
My  kingdom  is  7iot  of  this  world,  says  the  Saviour ; 
and  his  genuine  disciples  do  not  covet  a  worldly 
sceptre.  The  permitting  a  state  clergy  to  punish, 
with  the  secular  sword,  whatever  they  deem  to  be 
religious  error,  has  always  been  ruinous  to  the  cause  of 
real  Christianity ;  whether  in  Britain,  or  in  Geneva,  or 
at  Rome,  or  elsewhere. 


STATE    CHUHCHES    CRUEL.  155 

Doubtless,  if  the  toleration  act  were  to  be  repealed 
in  England,  and  the  people  of  that  country  would  sub- 
mit to  it,  the  established  church  would  now  re-enact 
the  bloody  tragedies  against  dissidents  without,  and 
evangelicals  within  its  pale,  that  were  performed  upon 
the  puritans  and  nonconformists,  by  the  preceding 
state  clergy,  under  the  auspices  of  Elizabeth  and  the 
first  four  Stuarts.  Nor  is  it  less  certain,  that  if  any 
one  religious  sect,  in  these  United  States,  whether 
episcopal,  or  presbyterian,  or  congregational,  were  to 
be  interlocked  with  the  civil  government,  and  per- 
mitted to  wield  its  sword ;  this  country  would  again 
exhibit  the  same  systematic  intolerance,  which  induced 
the  puritans  of  New-England  to  burn  quakers  for  non- 
conformity, and  old  women  for  being  too  intimate  with 
the  devil. 

Persecution  seems  to  be  a  necessary  adjunct  of 
an  established  church  ;  and,  at  this  moment,  formal 
English  bishops  persecute,  to  the  utmost  extent  of 
their  power,  the  unbeneficed  evangelicals  within 
their  dioceses.  They  are  not,  indeed,  as  the  law  now 
stands,  allowed  to  burn,  or  imprison,  or  fine,  or  tor- 
ture the  victims  of  their  episcopal  vengeance ;  but 
they  labour  to  starve  them,  by  driving  them  out  of 
their  jurisdiction,  by  prohibiting  their  performance 
of  any  official  duty,  by  depriving  them  of  the  means 
of  subsistence ;  if  they  dare  to  preach  the  pure  Gos- 
pel, and  prove  themselves  faithful  to  their  ordination 
vows. 

Real  Christians  are  always  fearfully  outnumbered, 
in  every  human  society,  by  the  formal,  the  secular,  the 
profane,  and  the  profligate:  and  should,  therefore, 
keep  themselves  pure  from  all  contact  with  a  mere 
worldly  religion,  and  exert  their  genial  influence  over 
the  surrounding  region  that  lieth  in  wickedness;  by 
the  gradual  effect  of  the  Gospel  on  individual  converts  ; 
and  by  the  higher  standard  of  public  morals,  which 
their  sentiments  and  example  cannot  fail,  eventually, 
to  erect. 


156  BUTTON    BREACH. 

Dr.  Gauden,  in  his  petitionary  remonstrance  to  the 
protector,  estimates  the  number  of  episcopal  clergy,  se- 
questered by  the  presbyterians,  at  between  six  afid 
seven  thousand;  nearly  two-thirds  of  all  the  state  in- 
cumbents. Nor  were  these  governing  ecclesiastics  always 
very  scrupulous  as  to  whom,  or  why,  they  ejected  the 
clerical  possessors  of  church  livings.  Indeed,  dominant 
ecclesiastical  sects  have  never  been  very  remarkable,  in 
any  age,  or  in  any  country,  for  their  moderation  in  the 
use,  nor  for  their  forbearance  from  the  abuse  of  secular 
power. 

The  presbyterians,  at  this  period,  ejected  the  rector 
of  Fittleworth,  in  Sussex,  from  his  church  living,  for 
what  they  called  "  a  breach  of  the  Sabbath  ;"  which 
breach,  upon  examination,  turned  out  to  be,  that,  as 
he  was  going  to  church,  in  stepping  over  a  stile,  a  very 
essential  button  in  his  breeches  gave  way ;  and  he  had 
recourse  to  a  neighbouring  tailor  to  sew  it  on  for  him, 
rather  than  face  his  congregation  with  his  nether  gar- 
ment in  an  unseemly  posture.  Thus,  under  the  tender 
mercies  of  a  presbyterian  state  church,  a  simple  button 
breach  cost  an  honest  man  his  bread. 

Doubtless,  a  large  proportion  of  the  sequestered  epis- 
copal clergy  were  not  very  eminent  divines,  either  in 
theory  or  in  practice  ;  seeing  that  an  established  church 
has  always,  in  itself,  a  direct  tendency  to  secularize  the 
state  religion  ;  a  tendency,  which,  certainly,  would  not 
be  weakened,  under  the  protecting  nightshade  of  such 
nursing  fathers  and  nursing  mothers,  as  Elizabeth, 
James  and  Charles. 

But  the  presbyterians  also  sacrificed  some  of  the  first- 
lings of  the  episcopal  flock.  Dr.  Calamy,  himself, 
says,  "  I  readily  acknowledge  many  of  the  sufferers  to 
have  been  men  of  great  worth  and  eminence.  I  am  sin- 
cerely sorry  they  met  with- such  usage;  and  can, 
as  heartily  as  any  man,  lament  the  rigorous  treat- 
ment of  such  excellent  persons  as  bishop  JVIoreton, 
bishop  Hall,  bishop  Prideaux,  bishop  Brownrigg,  &c. 
I  have  not  the  least  word  to  sav  in   vindication  of  it. 


EJECTED    ALLOWANCE.  157 

Bishop  Hall's  Hard  Measure,  written  by  himself,  add- 
ed to  tlie  account  of  the  specialties  of  his  life,  and 
dated  May  29,  164>7,  would  make  any  man's  heart 
bleed,   that  reads  it." 

In  John  Walker's  "  Attempt  towards  recovering  an 
account  of  the  numbers  and  sufferings  of  the  clergy  of 
the  church  of  England,"  will  be  found  many  facts,  that 
prove  the  hardness  of  presbyterian  dominion,  while 
it  remained  the  prevailing  state  sect.  It  is  wo/  in- 
tended to  justify  the  vindictive  bitterness,  the  viru- 
lence, the  iiliberality,  the  calumny,  in  which  Mr.  John 
A^^ilker  indulges  himself;  for  the  man  seems  to  have 
been  a  full-fledged  formalist ;  but,  merely,  to  refer  to 
the  unquestionable  facts  collected  by  him,  showing, 
that  clerical  oppression  was  not  confined  to  Laud 
and  the  hierarchy ;  but  prevailed,  also,  among  the 
ju-esbyterians  of  the  commonwealth,  as  soon  as  they 
obtained  the  power  of  the  secular  sword,  to  manifest, 
effectually,  their  deadly  hostility  to  all  religious  tolera- 
tion. 

The  parliament  professed  to  allow  07ie-jifth  of  the 
income  of  tlie  benefices  to  the  wives  and  families  of  the 
sequestered  clergy  ;  but  if  the  account  given  by  bishop 
Hall,  in  his  Hard  IMeasure,  be  correct,  as  applicable  to 
his  brethren  in  distress,  as  well  as  to  himself;  a  very 
small  proportion  of  this  fifth  ever  reached  the  hands 
of  the  sufferers.  Little  as  it  was,  however,  it,  by  so 
much  as  its  whole  amount,  exceeded  the  munificence  of 
Charles  and  his  bishops,  to  the  nonconformists,  whom 
they  ejected;  for  to  these  men  they  allowed,  absolutely, 
nothing  but  famine,  and  the  dungeon,  and  incessant 
persecution. 

Whether  Cromwell  possessed  any  personal  piety  or 
not,  he,  undoubtedly,  did  infinitely  more  for  the  pi'O- 
te slant  religion,  than  all  the  four  Stuarts  put  together, 
notwithstanding  they  were  the  legitimate  heads,  and 
supreme  pontift's  of  the  established  church  of  Eng- 
land. For  he  not  only  prohibited,  to  the  utmost  of 
his    power,     all  persecution    on    account    of  religious 


158  PROT  F.ST  ANT    COUNCIL. 

opinions  at  home,  within  the  P^nglish  realm,  during  his 
protectorate  ;  but  extended  his  influence  in  favour  of 
protestants,  on  the  European  continent. 

For  example,  when  the  duke  of  Savoy  raised  a  new 
persecution  against  the  Vaudois,  Cromwell  sent  to  car- 
dinal Mazarin,  then  premier  of  France,  to  put  a  stop 
to  it ;  adding,  that  he  well  knew  the  French  govern- 
ment had  the  Italian  duke  in  their  power,  and  could 
restrain  him,  if  they  pleased;  and  if  they  did  not,  they 
must  prepare  for  a  rupture  with  England.  Mazarin 
objected  to  this,  as  an  unreasonable  requisition  :  he 
promised  to  interpose  his  good  offices,  but  could  not  be 
obliged  to  answer  for  their  result.  Cromwell  persisted, 
and  JMazarin  ordered  the  duke  of  Savoy  to  desist  from 
his  bloody  persecution  ;  which  being  done,  the  English 
protector  raised  a  large  sum  of  money  for  the  Vaudois, 
and  sent  over  Morland  to  settle  all  their  concerns,  and 
to  supply  all  their  losses. 

About  the  same  time,  there  was  a  tumult  at  Nismes, 
in  which  the  Huguenots  were  disorderly  ;  and  appre- 
hending some  severity  from  their  government,  they  sent 
a  person  over  to  Cromwell,  who  sent  him  back  to  Paris, 
within  an  hour,  with  a  letter  to  his  ambassador,  direct- 
ing him,  either  to  get  the  matter  passed  over,  or  to 
leave  France  immediately.  Mazarin  complained  of  this 
proceeding,  as  too  imperious;  but  yielded.  These 
things  raised  Cromwell's  character  all  over  Europe  ;  as 
well  they  might. 

Cromwell,  also,  designed  to  estabUsh  a  council  ior 
the  protestant  religion;  in  opposition  to  the  society 
de  propaganda  fide,  at  Rome.  It  was  to  consist  of 
seven  counsellors",  and  four  secretaries,  for  different  pro- 
vinces :— the  first,  to  include  France,  Switzerland, 
and  the  Valleys;  the  second,  the  palatinate,  and 
the  other  Calvinists  ;  the  third,  Germany,  the  north, 
and  Turkey;  the  fourth,  the  East  and  West 
Indies.  The  secretaries  were  to  keep  up  a  corre- 
spondence every  where,  in  order  to  ascertain  the 
state  of  religion  all  over  the  world ;  so  that  protest- 
antism   might    be    protected    and    assisted.       Chelsea 


STUART    CllUELTY.  159 

college  was  to  be  fitted  up  for  them ;  and  the  funds 
necessary  for  the  execution  of  this  great  object,  to  be 
regularly  supplied.  Death  prevented  the  accomplish- 
ment of  this  noble  project;  and  Charles  the  second  was 
not  the  man  exactly  calculated  to  perfect  the  unfi- 
nisjied  schemes  of  Cromwell. 

What  a  magnificent  contrast  does  the  English  pro- 
tector's public  conduct,  in  regard  to  religion,  present 
to  the  behaviour  of  the  Stuarts ;  who  not  only  aban- 
doned the  protestants  of  continental  Europe  to  the 
envenomed  fury  of  their  popish  persecutors,  but  also 
heaped  every  species  of  indignity  and  torture  upon  their 
own  protestant  people,  at  home. 

One  fact  of  James  the  second  ought  never  to  be  for- 
gotten ;  as  it  shows,  not  only  the  horrible  barbarity  of 
/ii.9  nature,  but  also,  what  the  tender  mercies  of  pop^r?/ 
are,  whenever  it  has  power  to  use  its  own  favourite  ar- 
guments against  all  that  will  not  subscribe  to  the 
bloodiest  system  of  fraud,  that  was  ever  imposed  upon 
suffering  and  degraded  humanity. 

During  the  persecutions,  inflicted  by  Charles  the 
second,  and  the  English  state  church,  upon  the  Scot- 
tish people,  to  dragoon  them  into  episcopacy,  whoever 
was  to  be  struck  ni  the  hoots,  was  tortured  in  the 
presence  of  the  council ;  upon  the  occurrence  of  which, 
almost  all  the  members  endeavoured  to  escape.  The 
sight  w^as  so  dreadful,  and  the  agony  of  the  smashed 
and  mangled  sufferer  so  horrible,  that  without  a  roijal 
order  from  the  head  of  the  established  church,  re- 
straining a  given  number  to  stay,  the  board  would 
have  been  forsaken.  But  James,  then  duke  of  York, 
during  his  stay  in  Scotland,  manifested  a  truly  infernal 
delight  at  this  shocking  spectacle,  and  looked  on  dur- 
ing the  whole  process  of  mangling  the  miserable  victim, 
with  an  eager  attention,  as  if  he  had  been  witnessing 
some  curious  experiment  upon  inanimate  and  insensible 
matter. 

Yet  not  all  the  atrocities  of  the  Stuarts,  father,  son 
and    grandsons;     nor     the    fury    of  that   red-handed 


160  JAMES    SHAKP. 

butcher,  Lauderdale,  could  keep  even  pace  with  the 
insatiable  blood-thirst  of  James  Sharp,  the  established 
archbishop  of  St.  Andrews;  an  execrable  wretch,  who 
had  been  a  presbyterian  clergyman ;  who  had  been 
intrusted  by  the  presbyterians  with  their  most  im- 
portant interests ;  who  had  basely  betrayed  all  his 
trust ;  who,  for  this  very  consummation  of  perfidy, 
was  raised  to  the  archiepiscopate,  by  that  sanctimo- 
nious head  of  the  English  protestant  episcopal  church, 
Charles  the  second ;  who  proved  himself  to  be  a  truly 
primitive  state  bishop,  by  a  long  series  of  fraud,  false- 
hood, perjury,  persecution,  and  murder;  and  who, 
at  length,  fell  under  the  knives  of  the  covenanters, 
whom  he  had,  for  many  years,  hunted,  tortured, 
plundered,  massacred,  without  mercy,  and  without 
remorse,  for  the  sole  crime  of  worshipping  the  Lord 
their  God,  according  to  the  dictates  of  their  own  con- 
science. 

Cromwell  experienced  some  trouble,  in  settling, 
as  the  cant  political  phrase  runs,  the  religion  of  Eng- 
land. For  when  the  fury  and  perfidy  of  Laud  had 
put  both  the  monarchy  and  the  state  church  of  Eng- 
land in  abeyance,  many  wild  and  strange  notions 
about  religion,  both  individual  and  national,  were 
spread  abroad.  The  presbyterians  were  afraid  of 
the  commonwealth  men,  or  republicans;  many  of 
whom  set  up  for  deists,  and  were  urgent  for  the  de- 
struction of  all  sorts  of  clergy,  and  for  breaking  up 
every  vestige  of  a  church  establishment.  They  ad- 
vised the  pulling  down  all  churches,  discharging  all 
tithes,  and  leaving  religion  to  shift  for  itself,  without 
either  encouragement  or  restraint,  on  the  part  of  the 
civil  government;  the  latter  part  of  which  experi- 
ment is  now  in  progress,  throughout  these  United 
States. 

Cromwell  assured  the  presbyterians,  that  he  would 
maintain  a  public  ministry ;  and  he  joined  them  in  a 
commission  with  some  of  the  independents,  to  be  the 
triers   of  all   applicants    for   benefices.     These   triers 


GOODWIN CROMWET,!..  l6l 

also  disposed  of  all  the  churches  in  the  gift  of  the 
crown,  or  of  the  bishops,  and  likewise  of  the  cathe- 
drals. 

Cromwell  laboured  to  divide  the  republican  party 
among  themselves  ;  to  set  the  fifth  monarchy  men 
and  enthusiasts  against  those  who  disregarded  religion, 
and  professed  to  act  only  on  the  principles  of  civil 
liberty ;  as  Algernon  Sidney,  Henry  Nevil,  JNlartin, 
AVildman  and  Harrington.  The  fifth  monarchy  men 
professed  to  live  in  daily  expectation  of  Christ  s  ap- 
pearance in  London.  John  Goodwin  headed  these 
fanatics,  and  was  the  first  v/ho  introduced  Arminian- 
ism  among  the  puritans.  The  protector  called  him- 
self a  Calvinist ;  as  were  the  independents  generally. 
Vet  none  of  the  preachers  were  so  stanch  to  him  in 
temporal  matters,  as  Goodwin  ;  who,  not  only  justi- 
fied the  decapitation  of  Charles,  but  magnified  it  as 
the  most  glorious  of  all  human  transactions.  He 
turned  the  brains  of  his  foUovv^ers,  if  not  his  own, 
with  the  expectations  of  an  immediate  millennium,  or 
the  glorious  reign  of  Christ  on  earth  for  a  thousand 
years.  Some  of  these  saints,  however,  afterwards,  as 
Dr.  South  observes,  took  Tyburn,  in  their  way  to 
heaven. 

On  the  whole,  Cromwell  was  himself  tolerant  to- 
wards all  religious  persuasions :  the  fifth  monarchy 
men  he  treated  in  their  own  way,  with  mystical  dis- 
courses, and  long,  unintelligible  prayers;  the  other 
republicans  he  considered  as  heathens  ;  and  the 
episcopalians  he  suffered  to  hold  their  meetings  in 
several  places  about  London,  free  from  all  molesta- 
tion. 

Bishop  Burnet  says,  that  when  his  own  designs  did 
not  lead  him  out  of  the  way,  Cromwell  was  a  lover 
of  justice  and  virtue,  and  even  of  learning,  though 
much  decried  at  that  time.  He  studied  to  seek  out 
able  and  honest  men  for  his  employment.  His  gen- 
tleness had  much  quieted  the  people  in  relation  to 
him  ;  and  his  riiaintaining  the  honour  of  England,  in 
all   foreign   nations,    highly   gratified    them.     Though 

M 


162  BOREL CIlAllLES. 

not  a  crowned  head,  his  ambassadors  had  all  the  re- 
spect paid  to  them,  which  any  English  king's  envoys 
received  ;  and  much  greater  than  was  ever  shown  to 
those  of  the  second  Charles  and  James  ;  more  especially 
at  the  French  court. 

The  Dutch  were  in  such  dread  of  the  protector,  that 
when  Charles,  or  his  brother,  came  to  see  their  sister, 
the  princess  royal,  they  used  to  send  a  deputation, 
saying  that  Cromwell  had  required  of  the  states  to 
give  them  no  harbour.  Charles,  when  seeking  a  pre- 
tence for  war,  in  1672,  against  Holland,  assigned  as  a 
reason,  that  some  of  his  rebels  were  suffered  to  live 
there.  Borel,  the  Dutch  ambassador,  answered,  that 
it  was  an  ancient  maxim  with  them,  not  to  inquire 
why  strangers  lived  in  Holland  ;  but  to  receive  them 
all,  unless  they  had  conspired  against  the  persons 
of  princes.  Charles  then  reminded  him,  how  the 
states  had  used  himself  and  his  brother.  Ha,  sire  ! — 
replied  Borel — c'estoit  une  autre  chose.  Cromwell 
estoit  un  grand  homme,  et  il  se  faisoit  craindre^  et 
par  terre,  et  par  mer. 

Charles  answered— ;yd  me  feray  craindre  aussy  a 
mon  tour.  But  Charles  did  not  keep  his  word  ;  for, 
like  his  father,  and  his  grandfather,  he  was  formidable 
only  to  the  British  people,  whom  he  deceived,  oppressed 
and  persecuted.  He  was  the  contempt  and  scorn  of 
all  foreign  nations. 

It  was  a  prevailing  fashion  among  Charles  the  se- 
cond's state  clergy,  to  brand  the  puritans  as  authors  of 
his  father's  death.  But  Calamy,  Marshal,  Whitaker, 
Sedgwick  and  Ash,  eminent  presbyterian  ministers, 
when  consulted,  declared  that  the  army  disapproved  of 
killing  the  king.  Forty-seven  other  ministers  protested 
against  it ;  for  which  they  were  threatened  by  the  army 
leaders.  Sixty  ministers  in  Essex,  and  fifty-four  in 
Lancashire,  most  rigid  puritans,  also  protested  against 
the  execution  of  Charles.  Nay,  Cromwell  complained, 
that  he  and  his  council  of  officers  were  thwarted  in  their 
designs  upon  the  king,  by  the  opposition  of  the  pres- 
byterian parsons.     Nor  were   the  independent   clergy 


WESTMINSTER    ASSr,MIU,Y.  1  63 

more  favourable  to  this  measure  ;  upon  which  they  pre- 
served an  ominous  silence,  when  preaching  before  the 
parliament,  at  a  time,  when  to  applaud  the  king's  ex- 
ecution, was  the  high  road  to  ecclesiastical  prefer- 
ment. 

The  truth  seems  to  be,  that  Cromwell,  and  the  other 
military  leaders  of  the  parliament  party,  knew  that  they 
could  never  trust  Charles ;  and  in  self-defence,  put  him 
to  death,  rather  than  replace  him  in  a  situation,  which 
would  enable  him  to  confer  the  same  kindness  upon 
them. 

The  parliament  having  put  down  state  episcopacy, 
the  Westminster  assembly  of  divines  laboured  to  con- 
form England  to  Scottish  presbyterianism  ;  unmindful, 
it  should  seem,  of  their  own  complaints  against  the 
episcopal  church,  for  having  cemented  their  uniformity 
with  the  tears  and  blood  of  the  dissenting  puritans. 
This  assembly  consisted  of  one  hundred  and  forty-three 
presbyterian,  and  seven  independent  ministers ;  men, 
generally,  of  great  talent,  and  profound  theological 
learning ;  as  their  written  labours,  particularly  their 
Confession  of  Faith,  and  Catechisms,  fully  prove. 

Laud,  and  his  formalist  followers,  witli  their  wonted 
good  faith,  have  always  reviled  this  assembly  as  a 
rabble  of  ignorant  Brownists.  Able  and  learned  as 
thev  were,  however,  they  had  not  sufficiently  drank 
into  their  Divine  Master's  spirit,  to  abstain  from  en- 
croaching on  the  rights  of  conscience,  and  labouring 
to  compel  people  to  believe  in  presbyterianism,  as  the 
established,  or  state  religion.  But  the  parliament 
passed  a  law,  abolishing  all  penal  statutes  relating  to 
religion ;  and  allowing  all  to  worship  according  to 
their  own  will,  on  swearing  allegiance  to  the  govern- 
ment. 

This  Christian  toleration  was  constantly  denoun- 
ced by  the  presbyterians,  as  a  crying  sin  ;  and  the 
various  sects  bitterly  vituperated,  as  so  many  deadly 
wounds  to  "  the  church."  So  absurd  and  dangerous 
is  it  to  intrust  any  religious  body  with  power  to  per- 
secute ;    and   so  prepense   are  all  established,  or  state 

M  2 


164  COMMOMWEAI-TH    RELIGION. 

clergy,  to  harass  their  fellow-men,  for  the  good  of 
the  church ;  meaning  thereby  their  own  peculiar 
sect. 

A  large  portion,  some  thousands,  of  the  episcopal 
clergy  conformed  to  the  new  order  of  things  ;  for  a 
national  church  never  lacks  an  abundance  of  vicars 
of  Bray.  These  clerical  conformists  were  not  allowed 
to  read  the  liturgy ;  and  the  use  of  the  old  form 
of  prayer  was  prohibited  in  private  families.  Such 
notions  of  religious  liberty  prevailed  among  those 
very  men,  who  had  suffered,  and  had  but  just  escaped 
from  under  the  harrow  of  Laud  and  his  merciless 
inquisition. 

The  state  of  real  religion,  of  vital  piety,  in  England, 
during  the  interregnum,  it  is  not  easy  to  ascertain. 
The  formal  churchmen  delight  to  represent  it  as  the  era 
of  ignorance,  fanaticism  and  hypocrisy  ;  the  puritans 
extol  it  as  an  age  of  universal  piety.  Neither  of  these 
descriptions  is  strictly  correct.  No  doubt  the  Sabbath 
was  highly  honoured  ;  and  the  public  discourses  de- 
livered at  that  time,  both  by  presbyterian  and  in- 
dependent clergy,  are  equal  to  any  which  have  been 
produced  in  England,  since  the  Reformation  ;  in 
point  of  sound  learning,  theological  research,  Scriptu- 
ral knowledge,  practical  usefulness,  and  popular  elo- 
quence. 

Nevertheless,  Mr.  Neale  indulges  in  a  little  poetry 
when  he  says,  that  "the  great  body  of  the  people 
were  sincerely  religious."  For  how  does  it  appear, 
that  the  millions  of  ignorant,  heathenish,  profligate 
formalists,  whom  Laud  so  tenderly  cherished,  while 
he  incessantly  persecuted  all  vital  religion,  were  ever 
converted  to  Christianity  ?  And  if  they  were,  whence 
arose  the  milHons  of  the  same  order  of  men,  who,  on 
the  restoration  of  Charles,  deluged  England  with  im- 
piety and  crime  ?  Neither  Britain,  nor  any  other 
nation,  can  be  transformed  into  a  Christian  commu- 
nity, by  a  mere  change  of  temporal  rulers,  or  of 
church  government;  or,  according  to  act  of  parlia- 
ment. 


NATIONAL    RELIGION.  16.5 

•Doubtless,  as  lord  Clarendon  observes,  hypocrisy 
and  fanaticism  contributed,  at  that  time,  largely,  to 
form  the  English  character.  It  was  the  fashion  of 
the  commonwealth  rulers,  to  make  the  people  reli- 
gious ;  as  it  was  of  Charles  and  Laud,  to  make  them 
high  church  formalists;  and  of  the  second  Charles 
and  his  courtiers,  to  make  them  openly  profane  and 
licentious.  In  consequence,  there  was  a  general  ap- 
pearance of  godliness  throughout  the  nation.  Open 
irreligion  was  checked,  and  compelled  to  take  shel- 
ter under  the  cloak  of  that  serious  profession,  which 
led  to  preferment.  But  this  very  fact  proves,  that 
there  was  a  vast  aggregate  of  real  piety  in  England, 
at  that  period ;  for  the  extent  of  hypocrisy  must  al- 
ways be  regulated,  in  every  community,  by  that  of  true 
religion. 

If  rehgion  had  not  been  spread  generally  over  the 
EngUsh  nation,  there  could  have  been  no  effectual 
demand  for  extensive  hypocrisy;  which,  in  itself,  is 
never  any  thing  more  than  the  homage  of  vice  to  vir- 
tue. If  the  great  body  of  the  Enghsh  people  had  not 
then  highly  valued  religion,  it  could  not  have  been 
worth  the  while  of  their  leading  statesmen  to  play  the 
hypocrite;  and  affect  the  semblance  of  piety,  in  or- 
der to  render  themselves  acceptable  to  the  nation  at 
large.  If  the  statesmen  of  the  present  day,  in  Europe, 
and  in  America,  do  7iot  find  it  necessary  to  conceal 
their  entire  disregard  for  all  vital  Christianity  ;  but 
can  afford  to  avow,  either  their  formal  indifference, 
or  tlieir  speculative  and  practical  infidelity;  it  only 
proves  that  there  is  too  little  real  religion  in  their  re- 
spective communities,  to  compel  them  to  wear  the  mask 
of  hypocrisy,  and  assume  the  appearance  of  that  piety 
which  is  so  generally  diffused.  It  only  proves,  that  the 
hosts  of  formalists  and  infidels,  now,  are  more  numerous, 
and  more  daring  in  Christendom,  than  they  were  in  some 
former  ages. 

The  truth  is,  there  was,  at  that  time,  a  great  por- 
tion of  religious  knowledge  diffused  among  all  ranks 
of  the    English  people.      The  long  parliament  itself 


166  CROMWELL'S    CHAPLAINS. 

was  an  assembly  of  theologians ;  and  the  preachers 
laboured  zealously  in  their  vocation ;  tliough  being 
narrowed  in  their  views  by  sectarian  bigotry,  they 
were  bitter  enemies  to  all  Christian  toleration.  Yet 
the  author  of  the  "  Conformist's  Plea  for  the  Noncon- 
formists," says,  "  in  many  hundreds  of  sermons  I  ne- 
ver heard  their  differences  of  sentiment ;  though  one 
was  considered  a  presbyterian,  another  an  independ- 
ent, and  a  third  an  episcopalian  ;  nor  was  Calvin  dei- 
fied, or  preached,  any  further  than  as  Christ  spake  in 
him." 

It  would,  indeed,  be  bitter  mockery,  to  compare 
the  state  of  real  religion  in  England,  under  the  pro- 
tectorate of  Cromwell,  and  during  the  perfidious, 
profligate  reign  of  the  second  Charles.  Whatever 
might  be  the  amount  of  the  protector's  personal  piety, 
it  could  not,  possibly,  be  less  than  that  of  the  king, 
who  succeeded  him.  His  chaplains,  Owen  and 
Howe,  were,  at  least,  equal  in  piety,  talent,  learning 
and  integrity,  to  any  who  have  ever  ministered  in  the 
same  capacity  to  the  Tudors,  the  Stuarts,  or  the 
Brunswicks. 

On  the  accession  of  Charles,  the  constrained  de- 
cency of  the  commonwealth  was  exchanged  for  the 
most  openly  avowed  profligacy.  But  no  ho  were  the 
hypocrites?  the  puritans,  who  suffered  every  species 
of  persecution,  rather  than  renounce  their  faith,  and 
let  go  their  integrity  ?  or  those  high  church  formal- 
ists, who,  during  the  protectorate,  wore  the  garb  of 
solemn  conformity  ;  and,  under  the  auspices  of  Charles, 
exhibited  the  most  barefaced  irreligion  and  immo- 
rality ?  Of  such  efficacy  is  the  scheme  of  reducing  a 
whole  nation  to  the  uniform  paces  of  a  political  state 
church. 

The  actual  state  of  religion  in  a  country,  is  of  much 
greater  importance,  than  mere  politicians,  however 
profoundly  and  comprehensively  versed  in  econo- 
mics, can  be  taught  to  appreciate.  The  historical 
books  of  Scripture  emphatically  teach  this  moment- 
ous lesson,  that  God  is  governor  among  the  nations ; 


BASENESS    OF    CHARLES.  167 

that  righteousness  exalteth  a  nation,  but  sin  is  the  re- 
proach of  any  people  ;  that  the  periods  of  national 
history  are  prosperous  or  calamitous,  in  proportion  as 
piety  prevails  or  languishes. 

A  stronger  confirmation  of  this  awful  truth  cannot 
be  found,  than  in  the  periods  now  under  considera- 
tion. How  terrible  to  all  her  foes  abroad,  as  well  as 
secure  at  home,  was  England,  during  the  protector- 
ate of  Cromwell,  when  a  great  portion  of  her  people 
were  seriously  inclined,  and  religion  was  encourag- 
ed ;  and  how  soon  thereafter  was  she  filled  with  in- 
ternal disorder,  and  bowed  her  head  to  the  dust, 
when  Charles  hunted  every  thing  in  the  shape  of  pi- 
ety, into  the  dungeon,  or  into  exile,  or  into  the  sepul- 
chre ;  and  spread  the  full  tide  of  irreligion,  and  its 
inseparable  accompaniments,  iniquity  and  profligacy, 
over  every  corner  of  the  land.  Then,  the  people 
were  quickly  dispirited  and  despised,  and  the  khig 
himself  became  a  hireling  pensioner  of  the  French 
court. 

For  a  full  exposition  of  the  base  serviency  of  the 
second  Charles  and  James  to  the  cabinet  of  France, 
see  the  works  of  Louis  the  fourteenth ;  INIr.  Fox's 
History  of  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  James  the 
second ;  and  JNIr.  Rose's  Observations  on  Mr.  Fox's 
book.  In  these  publications  may  be  seen  the  secret 
treaties  between  the  French  and  English  courts ; 
and  the  melancholy  contrast  between  the  high  national 
character  of  England,  while,  under  Cromwell,  she  kept 
all  Europe  in  awe  ;  and  her  degraded,  abject  condition, 
when,  under  Charles  and  James,  she  was  a  vassal  pro- 
vince of  France. 

Bishop  Burnet  imputes  the  mischiefs  of  Charles's 
reign,  to  his  being  restored  •without  conditions.  And 
when  the  earl  of  Southampton  began  to  see  what  a 
curse  this  head  of  the  established  church  was  likely 
to  prove ;  in  great  wrath,  he  accused  lord  Clarendon 
as  the  cause  of  all  they  felt,  or  feared ;  for  if  he, 
Hyde,  hdid.  wot  misrepresented  his  master  so  much  in 
all  his  letters,  they  would  have  taken   care  to  put  it 


168  CLARENDON—SOUTHAMPTON. 

out  of  his  power  to  do  so  mucli  miscliief.  Hyde  an- 
swered, that  he  thought  Charles  had  so  mucli  good 
7iatu7'e  and  judgineiit,  that  when  the  age  of  pleasure, 
and  the  idleness  of  exile  was  over,  he  would  get  rid  of 
all  entanglements,  and  attend  to  business. 

Clarendon  lived  long  enough  to  experience,  in  his 
own  person,  what  kind  of  nature  and  judgment 
Charles  was  capable  of  exhibiting ;  in  return  for  a  long 
life  of  the  most  important  political  services  rendered 
to  himself  and  to  his  father,  in  their  greatest  hour  of 
need. 

At  the  restoration,  Arminianism  was  declared  to  be 
the  court  religion  ;  and  was,  accordingly,  adopted  by 
the  great  body  of  the  episcopal  clergy,  now  re-established 
as  the  state  church.  Charles  understood  the  business  of 
kingcraft  so  far,  as  to  be  aware,  that  he  could  never  bow 
the  stubborn  sinews  of  a  Calvinistic  ministry  to  the 
bloody  idolatries  of  papal  Rome. 

Eefore  Charles  left  Paris,  he  embraced  the  Romish 
superstition ;  cardinal  de  Retz  was  in  the  secret ; 
and  lord  Aubigny  promoted  it ;  though  Clarendon 
could  not,  for  a  long  time,  be  induced  to  believe  his 
royal  master  quite  so  base.  It  was,  however,  known 
in  France  ;  for  De  Retz  urged  his  kinsman,  and  par- 
ticular friend,  the  marquis  De  Roucy,  one  of  the  first 
French  families  that  continued  protestant  to  the  last, 
to  embrace  popery  ;  urging,  as  the  chief  reason,  that 
protestantism  was  on  the  point  of  ruin  ;  that  the 
Huguenots  could  expect  no  aid  from  England ;  for 
both  Charles  and  James  Stuart  were  already  become 
papists. 

Asa  natural  consequence  of  his  secret  popery,  and 
avowed  support  of  the  English  protestant  episcopal 
church,  in  the  capacity  and  character  of  its  supreme, 
secular,  established  head,  Charles  persecuted,  with  the 
fangs  of  a  fiend,  every  appearance  of  evangelical  reli- 
gion ;  and  exhibited  a  most  edifying  spectacle  to  his 
state  clergy,  in  regularly  issuing  from  the  chambers  of 
his  kept  mistresses,  to  the  national  church,  even  on 
sacrament  days  ;   and  in  usually  holding  his  royal  court 


BAIITHOLOMEW    ACT.  1(19 

in  tlie  same  mansions  of  pollution  ;  and  compelling  the 
ministers  to  apply  to  his  prostitutes  for  civil  and  reli- 
gious promotion. 

Sheldon  was  his  favourite  among  the  established 
clergy,  because  he  considered,  and  always  spoke  of 
religion  as  a  mere  engine  of  government,  and  a  matter 
of  policy ;  for  which  Christian  qualification  he  was 
made,  first,  bishop  of  London,  and  then  archbishop  of 
Canterbury. 

Lord  Clarendon,  at  first,  urged  the  importance  of 
relaxing  the  rigour  of  full  formalism  introduced  by 
Laud  into  the  English  established  church ;  and  of 
making  due  concessions  to  the  common  sense  and  con- 
sciences of  men  ;  in  order  to  induce  the  dissenters, 
particularly  the  presbyterians,  to  unite  themselves  with 
the  establishment.  But  Charles's  state  bishops  vehe- 
mently opposed  this  wise  and  benevolent  measure, 
because  the  presbyterians  were  possessed  of  most  of 
the  great  benefices  in  the  established  church,  chiefly 
in  London  and  in  the  universities  of  Oxford  and 
Cambridge. 

It  is  necessary  to  state,  because  it  is  either  not 
generally  known,  or,  if  known,  studiously  concealed 
by  most  of  the  English  church  writers  of  the  present 
day,  that  all  the  clergy,  who  had  been  substituted  in 
the  place  of  those  ministers,  who  were  sequestered  bv 
the  parliament  or  their  visitors,  were  removed  from 
their  livings  and  benefices  at  the  restoration ;  as  being 
illegally  possessed  of  other  men's  rights.  And  this 
was  done  even  where  the  former  incumbents  were 
dead ;  because  a  title,  deemed  originally  defective, 
was  still  considered  as  defective  in  law.  So  that  the 
t-doo  thousand  evangelical  ministers,  ejected  by  the 
Bartholomew  act,  were  so  much  additional  balance 
in  favour  of  formalism  and  persecution  ;  and  not  a 
mere  measure  of  milder  retaliation,  on  the  part  of  the 
state  church ;  as  it  is  represented,  even  by  some  of 
the  most  respectable  English  writers  ;  for  example, 
the  Christian  Observer,  and  iNlr.  Southey,  in  his  Life 
of  John  AVesley. 


170  MISTAKE    OF    THE 

At  the  restoration,  a  great  number  of  the  puritans 
were  legally  possessed  of  eminent  posts  in  tlie  esta- 
blished church.  IMany  of  these,  especially  in  the  city 
of  London,  had  been  signally  instrumental  in  restoring 
Charles ;  and  on  that  score,  were  entitled  to  gratitude 
and  preferment  from  the  crown.  The  king,  however, 
in  seeming  concert  with  his  state  bishops,  affected  to 
believe,  that  none  ought  to  serve  Mm,  Charles,  {7iot 
Christ,)  as  the  head  of  the  national  church  of  Eng- 
land, but  clergymen  firmly  tied  to  his  interests,  by 
tory  principles,  by  political  tests  and  subscriptions,  and 
by  penal  oaths. 

Nevertheless,  Charles,  in  the  genuine  spirit  of 
Stuart  hypocrisy  and  fraud,  put  on  the  semblance  of 
moderation ;  while  he  was  engaged  in  another,  and 
a  deeper,  and  a  more  deadly  scheme,  to  which  the 
intolerant  cruelty  of  the  formal,  secular,  high  church, 
state  clergy,  proved  subservient,  and  aiding ;  namely, 
the  introduction  of  popery,  as  the  religion  of  Eng- 
land. A  popish  queen  kept  this  superstition  in  fashion 
at  court ;  and  the  Romish  priests  were  indefatigable 
in  making  converts  and  children  for  the  old  lady  of 
Babylon. 

Before  we  enter  upon  the  detail  proof  of  this  sum- 
mary of  facts,  it  may  be  well  to  notice  an  apparent 
error  in  the  Christian  Observer  for  1811,  in  respect 
to  the  supposed  retaliation  of  the  church,  or  rather, 
of  the  state,  by  the  Bartholomew  act  of  Charles  the 
second. 

The  writer  of  the  review  of  Bogue  and  Bennet's 
History  of  Dissenters,  says,  "  we  are  happy  that  it 
does  not  lie  upon  us,  or  upon  the  church,  of  which  we 
are  members,  to  vindicate  the  conduct  of  the  govern- 
ment and  clergy,  in  the  treatment  of  the  nonconfor- 
mists. The  church  of  England  is  no  more  implicated 
in  this  act  of  her  ruling  members,  and  those  who 
influenced  her  proceedings,  at  that  time,  than  the 
civil  part  of  the  constitution  is  accountable  for  the 
conduct  of  such  a  judge  as  Jeffries.  But  there  is 
some   plausibility  in  the  argument,    that  the  puritan 


CHRISTIAN    OBSERVER.  171 

ministers,  who  occupied  the  livings  at  the  restoration, 
were  usuiyers ;  and  it  was  only  depriving  them  of 
what  was  not  their  own,  and  of  which  they  had  en- 
joyed the  unjust  profit  for  a  long  course  of  years,  to 
eject  them  from  their  benefices. 

"  We  confess  the  measure  would  have  pleased  us 
better,  though  then  but  little,  had  it  been  executed 
on  the  honest,  avowed  principle  of  secular  restitu- 
tion; than,  by  prescribing  terms  of  communion,  with 
wliich  it  was  impossible  for  the  puritans,  with  a  safe 
conscience,  to  comply,  to  usurp  the  false  appearance 
of  justice.  The  credit  of  the  act  of  uniformity,  we 
would  much  more  willingly  give  to  the  state,  than  to 
the  church.  The  expulsion,  more  especially,  the  si- 
lencing of  such  ministers,  as  those  who  refused  to 
conform,  was  a  serious  injury,  both  to  the  church  and 
to  the  nation." 

To  the  liberal  and  catholic  spirit  of  these  re- 
marks, every  Christian  will  cordially  subscribe;  but 
it  seems  a  mistake,  to  suppose,  that  the  act  of  uni- 
formity was  passed,  m  order  to  get  rid  of  those  puri- 
tan ministers,  who  had  been  instituted  in  the  place 
of  the  sequestered  episcopal  clergy ;  for  all  these 
puritan  substitutes  were  ejected  before  the  passing  of 
the  Bartholomew  statute ;  which  was  an  additional 
blessing,  bestowed  by  Charles,  and  his  state  bishops, 
on  the  English  established  church,  in  driving  out  two 
thousand  evangelical  clergymen  from  her  bosom ; 
and  leaving  within  it  a  goodly  body  of  secular  form- 
alists, who,  certainly,  did  not,  either  in  precept  or 
in  practice,  brighten  the  Scriptural  doctrines  of  the 
reformation. 

The  Anglican  Church  has  never  yet  recovered  from 
the  effects  of  this  deadly  blow.  From  August  1662, 
till  the  middle  of  the  reign  of  George  the  second,  a 
period  of  eighty  years,  formalism  and  irreligion  per- 
vaded the  great  body  of  the  English  national  clergy  ; 
and,  although  since  the  year  1742,  a  great  7'evival  of 
religion  has  taken  place  among  the  national  clergy  ; 
a  revival,  be  it  remembered,  constantly  and  virulently 


172  PROPORTION    OF    EVANGELICALS. 

opposed  and  persecuted  by  tlie  church  estcablishment,  as- 
such,  by  the  great  body  of  the  bishops  and  dignitaries 
of  the  secular  governors,  and  of  the  lay  patrons  ;  it  is 
doubtful,  if  noiv,  in  1822,  there  be  so  many  as  two 
thousand  evangelical  ministers,  out  of  the  whole  num- 
ber of  the  state  clergy. 

Nay,  if  there  were  as  many  evangelical  clergymen, 
now  in  the  English  establishment,  as  were  cast  out  of 
it  on  Bartholomew  day,  their  yj^oportion  to  the  Eng- 
lish population  is  not  quite  one-third ;  there  being 
in  1662,  less  than  four  millions  of  people  in  England 
and  Wales  ;  whereas  the  returns  in  1822,  gave  an 
amount  of  more  than  twelve  millions.  Whence  a 
very  minute  portion  of  the  laity  of  England,  not  one 
twelfth,  has  an  opportunity  of  hearing,  within  the 
walls  of  their  established  church,  the  reformed,  the 
scriptural  doctrines  of  her  liturgy,  articles,  and  homi- 
lies. 

In  the  history  of  his  own  time,  bishop  Burnet  says, 
the  first  point  in  debate  between  Charles  and  his 
prelates,  and  cabinet  ministers,  was,  if  concessions 
should  be  made,  and  pains  taken  to  gain  the  dis- 
senters, especially  the  presbyterians.  The  earl  of  Cla- 
rendon was  much  for  it,  and  got  the  king  to  pub- 
lish a  declaration,  concerning  ecclesiastical  affairs,  to 
which,  if  he  had  stood,  the  greatest  part  of  them 
might  have  been  gained  ;  but  the  bishops  did  not  ap- 
prove of  this  ;  and  after  the  service  they  did  that  lord, 
in  the  duke  of  York's  marriage  with  his  daughter,  he 
would  not  venture  to  differ  from  them.  Which  dis- 
gusted lord  Southampton,  who  was  for  carrying  on  the 
design,  much  talked  of  during  the  wars,  of  moderating 
matters,  both  in  church  government,  and  in  worship 
and  ceremonies. 

The  consideration  of  the  bishops  and  their  party, 
was,  that  the  presbyterians  possessed  most  of  the 
great  benefices  of  the  church,  chiefly  in  London, 
and  in  the  two  universities.  It  is  true,  continues 
Burnet,  all  that  had  come  into  the  room  of  those, 
who  were  turned  out  by  the  parliament,  or  their  visit- 


SHELDON.  173 

ors,  were  removed  by  the  course  of  law,  as  men  ille- 
gally possessed  of  other  men's  rights  ;  and  that,  even 
where  the  former  incumbents  v/ere  dead,  because  a 
title,  originally  wrong,  was  still  wrong  in  law.  But 
there  were  a  great  many  of  them,  in  very  eminent 
posts,  who  were  legcdli/  possessed  of  them.  Many  of 
these,  chiefly  in  London,  had  gone  into  the  design  of 
the  restoration,  in  so  signal  a  manner,  and  with  such 
success,  that  they  had  great  merit,  and  a  just  title  to 
very  high  preferment. 

These,  then,  were  the  clergy  who  merited  prefer- 
ment, that  the  state  bishops  desired  to  cast  out,  and 
for  whom  they  prepared  the  infamous  act  of  uni- 
formity; and  7iot,  as  the  Christian  Observer  sup- 
poses, the  puritan  ministers,  who  had  been  substi- 
tuted for  the  sequestered  episcopal  clergy  ;  seeing, 
that  they  were  already  driven  forth.  Nor  can  the 
credit  of  the  Bartholomew  act  be  ascribed  to  the 
state;  for  the  statesmen  of  England,  including  even 
Clarendon,  till  he  sacrificed  both  conscience  and 
wisdom  on  the  shrine  of  family  ambition,  were 
against  the  measure.  The  credit  of  endeavouring  to 
stifle  evangelical  religion  in  England,  must  be  at- 
tached to  the  bishops  of  the  established  church ;  at 
that  time  headed  by  Sheldon,  of  whom  Burnet  says, 
he  seemed  not  to  have  a  deep  sense  of  religion,  if 
any  at  all ;  and  spoke  of  it  most  commonly,  as  of  an 
engine  of  government,  and  a  matter  of  policy ;  by 
tliis  means,  the  king  came  to  look  on  him,  as  a  wise 
and  honest  clergyman,  because  he  had  no  sense  of 
religion. 

.Sheldon  was  first  made  bishop  of  London,  and, 
upon  Juxon's  death,  promoted  to  Canterbury.  Have 
not  qualifications  similar  to  those  of  Sheldon,  car- 
ried otlier  clerks  to  the  highest  eminences  in  esta- 
blished churches ;  necessary  as  they  are  assumed  to 
be,  for  the  promotion  of  piety,  and  the  prevention  of 
paganism  ? 

The  sad  experience  of  history  proves,  that  when- 
ever  men    are   persecuted   on    account   of  their    reli- 


174  FORMAL    CLERGY, 

gioiis  opinions,  the  state  church  genemlly  outnins  the 
civil  government,  in  the  race  of  persecntion  and  cru- 
elty;  an  irreligious  chvu-chman  being  always  a  more 
horrible  fiend  than  an  irreligious  layman  ;  on  the 
acknowledged  ground,  that  the  best  things,  when 
abused,  become  the  worst.  A  minister  of  the  sanc- 
tuary ovgJit  to  be  more  pure,  more  holy,  more  exem- 
plary, in  all  his  life  and  conversation,  tlian  other  men  ; 
but  if  he  be  a  hypocrite,  a  formalist,  an  infidel,  how 
much  greater  is  his  wickedness,  his  disregard  of  all 
the  restraints  of  conscience,  as  well  as  his  condem- 
nation ! 

In  the  instance  now  under  consideration,  the  secu- 
lar restitution  had  been  already  made,  by  removing, 
in  due  course  of  law,  all  those  puritan  ministers,  with 
whom  the  parliament  had  filled  up  the  vacant  benefices 
of  the  sequestered  clergy  ;  and  the  act  of  uniformity 
was  a  gratuitous  curse,  inflicted  by  the  bishops  them- 
selves on  the  church  of  England.  Besides,  if  Gauden 
be  correct  in  his  statement,  that  the  sequestered  clergy 
amounted  to  between  s'uv  and  seven  thousand,  the 
ejecting  only  tico  thousand  nonconformists  by  the  Bar- 
tholomew act,  was  not  a  sufficient  secular  restitution, 
as  it  would  still  leave  four  or  five  thousand  usurpers 
untouched. 

No,  the  object  of  Sheldon  and  his  mitred  brethren 
was,  to  drive  out  of  the  established  church,  clergy- 
men more  conscientious,  more  scrupulously  religious 
than  themselves.  If  ever  the  Anglican  Church  is  to 
recover  from  this  deep  stab  into  her  vitals,  it  can  only 
be  by  the  increase,  among  her  clergy,  of  such  cvange- 
lical'men  as  the  Bartholomew  act  consigned  to  penury, 
to  imprisonment,  to  death.  Such  ministers  alone  can 
preserve  that  clerical  establishment  from  entire  per- 
dition. A  secular,  irreligious,  formal  clergy  is  tlie 
most  grievous  curse,  that  can  be  inflicted  upon  any 
church,  or  any  nation  ;  and  the  greater  the  number  of 
such  clerical  "formalists,  the  greater  is  the  aggregate 
amount  of  the  curse. 


ESTABIJSHED    AND    UNESTABLISHED.  175 

It  is  worthy  of  notice,  how  immense  must  be  the  dif- 
ference, as  to  the  national  effect  produced  by  a  formal, 
irreliinous  clergy,  in  England,  and  in  these  United 
States.  Here,  in  this  country,  where  no  political  alli- 
ance exists  between  any  one  religious  sect  and  the  state, 
if,  in  any  particular  communion,  the  clergy  should  be- 
come, generally,  formalists  ;  and  keep  back,  or  dilute,  or 
pervert  the  distinguishing  doctrines  of  Christianity;  the 
people  would  gradually  file  oflP,  and  betake  themselves 
to  some  denomination,  where  the  Gospel  is  preached  ; 
and  the  formal  sect,  in  consequence,  would  be  depleted; 
and  could  recover  its  health  and  strength,  oulif  by  a  re- 
turn to  evangelism  in  faith  and  life. 

But  in  England,  a  formal  state  clergy  thins  the  es- 
tablished church,  to  swell  the  ranks  of  hostile  sects ; 
of  disqualified  dissenters,  of  proscribed  religionists. 
And,  whenever  the  national  clergy  shall  liave  siiffi- 
cieiithj  lost  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  English 
people,  by  the  habitual,  the  systematic  neglect  of  their 
most  sacred  duties,  that  ecclesiastical  establishment 
must  perish  ;  and  of  such  an  event,  so  intimately  in- 
terwoven is  it  with  the  secular  interests  of  the  leading 
families  in  the  British  empire,  no  human  wisdom  can 
possibly  foresee  the  consequences,  immediate  and  re- 
mote. 

Burnet  says,  that  on  the  restoration  of  Charles, 
the  very  professions  of  piety  and  virtue  were  thrown 
off;  and  that  entertainments  and  drunkenness  so  over- 
ran the  three  kingdoms,  as  to  corrupt  all  their  morals. 
Great  disorder  and  riot  prevailed  every  where;  to- 
gether with  a  ridicule  and  scorn  of  all  religion.  Charles 
himself  had  a  good  understanding,  and  a  soft,  af- 
fable manner,  which  pleased  all  who  came  near  him, 
until  they  found  that  no  dependance  could  be  placed 
upon  his  ready-made  smiles,  kind  words,  and  fair 
promises. 

He  seemed  to  have  no  sense  of  religion ;  both  at 
prayers  and  sacrament,  he  took  care  to  satisfy  peo- 
ple, that  he  was   not  concerned  in   the  employment. 


176  CHARLES'S    POPF.RY. 

He  said  once  to  Burnet,  that  he  was  no  atheist,  but 
could  not  think  that  God  would  make  a  man  miserable, 
only  for  taking  a  little  pleasure.  He  disguised  his 
popery  to  the  last ;  but  when  he  talked  freely,  he  re- 
viled the  liberty,  which,  under  the  Reformation,  men 
took  of  inquiring  into  matters  of  religion  ;  whence  they 
were  apt  to  inquire  into  matters  of  state.  And  he  often 
said,  government  was  safer  where  the  authority  was 
believed  infallible ;  and  the  faith  and  submission  of  the 
people  implicit. 

Doubtless,  Charles,  like  every  other  perfidious, 
and  hardhearted  tyrant,  preferred  popery  to  protest- 
antism, as  a  better  instrument  of  enslaving  both  the 
souls  and  bodies  of  the  people ;  but  Charles  was  the 
avowed  legal  head  of  the  Knglish  established  protest - 
ant  church  ;  and  the  sworn  defender  of  its  most  holy 
faith. 

Soon  after  his  restoration,  it  was  observed,  that  he 
would  not  marry  a  protestant ;  and  a  match  was  ne- 
gotiated between  him  and  the  infanta  of  Portugal. 
So  base  and  besotted  were  the  English  and  Scottish 
parliaments,  that,  though  they  had  seen  the  perdition 
produced  by  the  popish  queen  of  the  first  Charles, 
no  one  moved  against  this  measure,  except  the  earl  of 
Cassilis,  in  Scotland,  who  proposed  an  address  for  the 
king  to  marry  a  protestant.  When  the  archbishop  of 
Canterbury  performed  the  marriage  ceremony,  in  the 
summer  of  1662,  the  queen  v»^as  so  bigoted  a  papist, 
that  she  would  not  make  the  responses,  nor  endure  the 
sight  of  the  primate.  Charles  muttered  the  words  has- 
tily, and  they  were  pronounced  married  persons.  They 
were  privately  married  in  the  popish  way,  by  lord  Au- 
bigny,  and  James  afterwards  king  of  England,  was  one 
of  the  witnesses. 

She  was'  a  mean  looking,  ill  tempered  woman, 
whom  Charles  soon  neglected,  and  visited  his  mis- 
tresses openly.  Nay,  so  regardless  of  all  exterior 
decency  was  this  supreme  head  of  the  established 
Anglican  Church,  that,  for  the  peculiar  edification 
of  his    chaplains,   bishops,  and    courtiers,    he    usually 


PATRIARCH  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.      177 

went  from  the  lodgings  of  these  accommodating  ladies, 
to  the  national  church,  even  on  sacrament  Sundays, 
when  this  devout  monarch  received  the  holy  commu- 
nion. For,  those  protestant  English  bishops,  who 
framed  the  Bartholomew  act,  had  no  notion  of  imi- 
tating the  conduct  of  that  patriarch  of  Constantinople, 
who  refused  to  admit  his  flagitious  emperor  to  the 
Lord's  table.  The  enraged  sovereign  replied — "  1  will 
communicate,  for  I  have  sinned  like  David."  "  Go 
then,"  rejoined  the  primate,  "  and  repent  of  your 
murder  and  adultery,  like  David,  before  you  presume 
to  commemorate  the  Saviour's  death." 

Charles  held  his  court  in  these  unhallowed  cham- 
bers, while,  to  the  presiding  priestesses,  application 
was  made  for  clerical  and  secular  preferment.  The 
earls  of  Southampton  and  Clarendon  were  the  07ily 
two  of  all  the  spiritual  and  lay  expectants,  who  would 
not  stoop  to  solicit  favours  in  these  kennels  of  royal 
prostitution. 

Bishop  Burnet  thus  describes  some  of  Charles's 
leading  prelates :  Juxon,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
had  never  been  much  of  a  divine,  and  was  now  su- 
perannuated and  disregarded  by  the  king.  Sheldon 
had  been  reputed  learned,  before  the  wars ;  but  was 
now  so  deep  in  politics,  that  scarcely  any  prints  of 
learning  remained.  He  was  dexterous  in  business, 
quick  of  apprehension,  shrewd  in  judgment ;  very 
courteous  in  manner,  but  few  depended  on  his  pro- 
fessions of  friendship.  He  won  Charles's  good  opi- 
nion, by  always  treating  religion  as  a  mere  poli- 
tical machine;  and  therefore,  obtained  Lambeth  at 
Juxon's  death. 

Morley  was  a  Calvinist,  as  to  the  Arminian  points, 
and  was  thought  a  friend  to  the  puritans  before  the 
wars;  from  which  suspicion,  however,  he  thoroughly 
cleared  himself,  after  he  was  made  a  state  bishop. 
He  was  first  raised  to  the  see  of  Worcester,  then  of 
Winchester  ;  and  although  he  did  not  make  the  best 
use  of  the  great  wealth,  which  flowed  in  upon   him, 

N 


178  PRESENT    STATE    CHURCH. 

he  was  a  much  honester,  though  less  able  mau  than 
Sheldon. 

If  it  be  said  by  the  advocates  of  a  national  church 
establishment,  that  things  are  iioiv  ordered  better  in 
England ;  that  Charles  the  second  was  a  bad  man  and 
a  licentious  hypocrite ;  an  ostensible  protestant,  and  a 
concealed  papist ;  that  the  British  constitution  was  not 
then  settled  ;  but  that  now,  the  English  government 
always  selects  proper  men  to  fill  the  episcopal  bench  ; 
the  answer  is  obvious :  that  the  intimate  alliance  be- 
tween church  and  state,  in  England,  is,  to  the  full,  as 
pernicious  in  its  tendencies  to  stifle  pure,  evangelical 
religion,  noiv,  as  it  was  in  the  time  of  the  Stuarts  ;  at 
least,  so  far  as  the  general  providing  of  bishops  and 
dignitaries  for  the  establishment  reaches ;  the  compa- 
ratively very  few  evangelical  appointments  being  merely 
exceptions  to,  and  deviations  from,  the  ordinary  cur- 
rent of  state  church  patronage. 

To  be  sure,  the  law,  as  established  at  the  revolu- 
tion of  1688,  and  somewhat  modified  since,  does  not 
now  permit  the  national  clergy  to  persecute  and  op- 
press the  dissenters,  as  they  did  under  the  sacred  au- 
spices of  the  second  Charles;  but  the  churcli  of  England 
is  still  regulai'ly  filled  with  secular,  formal,  irreligious 
bishops,  priests  and  deacons.  No  other  proof  is  want- 
ing of  the  necessary  tendency  to  evil,  engendered  by 
the  close  connexion  of  the  Anglican  Church  with  a 
secular  empire,  than  the  simple  fact,  that,  in  the 
present  age,  the  British  government  has  actually  made 
such  clerks  as  Tomline,  JMarsh  and  Mant,  bishops ; 
for  the  sole  merit  of  having  laboured  to  explain  away 
the  essential  doctrines  of  the  church  of  England,  as 
expressed  in  her  articles ;  and  to  fasten  the  foul 
stain  of  popery  upon  a  protestant  establishment,  by 
imposing  upon  it  the  burdens  of  double  justification, 
of  unscriptural,  sophisticated  questions,  and  of  bap- 
tismal regeneration. 

Not  one  of  the  four  Stuarts  ever  committed  an  act 
of  deadlier  hatred  against*  those  evangelical  doctrines ; 


SKCULAR    CLERGr.  179 

to  establish  which,  our  venerable  reformers  underwent 
the  agonizing  horrors  of  martyrdom.  But  CcV  quovis 
ligjio  fit  3Iercurins ;  a  formal,  secular,  irreligious 
bishop  may  be  carved  out  of  any  block  of  wood. 

The  truth  is,  the  English  established  church  is  a 
political  machine,  invented,  and  put  into  operation 
for  the  purpose  of  sw^elling  the  patronage  and  influ- 
ence of  the  crown,  nominally,  but  really  of  the  exist- 
ing administration;  and  also,  of  providing  an  easy 
and  an  ample  subsistence  for  the  younger  branches 
of  the  noble  and  gentle  families  of  the  realm.  For 
these  exclusively  regal,  political  and  aristocratic  ob- 
jects, the  religion  and  morals  of  tlie  English  people 
are  put  in  perpetual  jeopardy.  If  the  archbishops, 
bishops,  deans,  prebendaries,  canons,  archdeacons, 
rectors,  vicars,  curates,  throughout  the  whole  of  that 
complicated  hierarchy,  were  to  acquit  themselves, 
generalhj,  as  faithful,  evangelical  ministers,  it  v/ould 
be  impossible  for  so  large  a  body  of  audacious  infidels, 
and  radicals,  to  swarm,  like  a  pestilence,  in  the  British 
isles. 

But  while  a  secular  government,  and  a  lay  patron- 
age, to  the  utter  exclusion  of  the  congregations  from 
all  part,  and  lot,  and  voice  in  the  selection  of  the 
clerk  who  is  to  administer  to  them  spiritually,  con- 
tinue to  fill  the  church  with  bishops,  and  dignitaries, 
and  other  clerical  incumbents;  it  is  not  possible  to 
create  an  evangelical  clergy  in  the  English  establish- 
ment; seeing  that  we  have  no  right  to  expect,  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  human  affairs,  that  the  king  and 
his  cabinet  ministers,  and  the  nobility  and  gentry  of 
the  British  empire,  generally,  shall  ever  be,  them- 
selves, evangelically  inclined;  and,  consequently,  dis- 
posed to  turn  the  stream  of  their  church  patronage  into 
an  evangelical  channel. 

Neither  is  enmity  to  vital  Christianity,  and  to  the 
distribution  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  a  decided 
preference  of  popery  to  all  protestant  dissent  from 
the  state  church,  confined  to  the  Anglican  hierarchs ; 

N  2 


180  CHARLESS    BISHOPS. 

but  it  also  pervades  the  inferior  clergy ;  a  notable  ex- 
ample of  which  we  have  in  the  proposal  of  the  reverend 
Samuel  Wix,  A.  M.  F.  R.  and  A.  S.  S.  to  wiite  the 
Roman  and  Anglican  Churches,  in  the  indissoluble 
bonds  of  family  alliance,  for  the  openly  avowed  purpose 
of  putting  down  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society, 
and  of  exterminating  all  protestant  dissenters.  A  let- 
ter, in  reply  to  Mr.  Wix,  by  Dr.  Burgess,  bishop  of 
St.  David's,  printed  at  Carmarthen,  in  1820,  will 
show,  that  all  the  episcopal  bench  in  ICngland  is  not  yet 
tainted  with  the  leprosy  of  formalism  ;  which,  in  effect, 
reduces  Christianity  to  virtual  popery,  by  divesting  it 
of  all  spirituality. 

When  a  shyness  had  been  excited  between  South- 
ampton and  Clarendon,  in  consequence  of  Clarendons 
shifting  sides,  and  co-operating  with  Charles's  state 
bishops,  to  drive  all  puritans  out  of  the  Anglican  Church, 
the  prelates  adopted  the  following  mode  of  spiritual 
reasoning,  to  induce  Charles  to  break  his  royal  word ; 
to  falsify  his  own  printed  declaration,  and  to  entail  the 
curse  of  intolerance,  of  persecution,  and  of  impiety,  up- 
on the  British  empire. 

These  worthy,  conscientious  bishops  said,  it  was 
better  to  have  a  schism  out  of  the  church,  than  in  it ; 
that  the  half  conformity  of  the  puritans,  before  the  civil 
war,  had  set  up  a  faction  in  every  city  and  town,  be- 
tween the  lecturers  and  incumbents,  which  was  hostile  to 
the  government  of  church  and  state  ;  that  the  king 
ought  to  have  none  to  serve  him,  Charles,  in  the 
church,  but  men  firmly  tied  to  his  interests,  by  sub- 
scriptions, and  oaths,  and  pains,  and  penalties ;  that, 
though  the  king  novo  had  a  parliament,  ready  to  go 
all  lengths  at  his  bidding,  he  could  not  expect  such 
success  always  ;  and  therefore,  it  was  best  to  make 
sure  work  at  this  time  ;  and  instead  of  bringing  in  the 
sectaries,  to  seek  the  most  effectual  means  of  casting 
them  out,  and  introducing  a  7iew  set  of  men  into  the 
church. 

To    this    truly  scriptural  mode    of  episcopal    argu- 
mentation,    Charles   professed    to    agree ;    because    he 


SAVOY    CONFERENCE.  181 

wanted  to  use  the  unchristian  violence  of  these  pro- 
testant  prelates,  for  an  instrument  to  introduce  popery 
into  England,  as  the  state  religion. 

The  court  of  Charles,  and  his  queen,  and  James, 
thought,  that  ix  general  toleration  would  hest  promote 
this  scheme  of  restoring  popery  to  its  pristine  domi- 
nation ;  and  nothing,  they  supposed,  could  procure 
an  open  toleration  for  popery,  but  driving  great  bo- 
dies of  men  out  of  the  English  protcstant  episcopal 
church,  and  harassing  them  with  severe  laws  ;  which 
would  force  them  to  ask  for  a  toleration;  and  the 
government  intended  to  make  it  large  enough  to  include, 
and  cover,  and  protect  the  papists.  Whence  the  papists 
openly  avowed,  that  they  would  oppose  all  plans  for  a 
comprehension  that  miglit  reconcile  all  protestants  to- 
gether, and  would  labour  to  excite  the  high  churchmen 
against  the  puritans  ;  which  the  formalists  called  zeal 
for  the  church  of  England. 

The  papists,  however,  at  the  same  time,  spoke  of  a 
general  toleration,  as  necessary  for  the  peace  and  quiet 
of  the  nation,  and  for  the  encouragement  of  trade.  The 
duke  of  York  declared  himself  a  violent  enemy  to  com- 
prehension, and  as  zealous  for  toleration  ;  so  natural  is 
it  for  papists  and  protestant  episcopal  formalists  to  unite 
together,  to  crush  all  evangelical  religion.  Herod  and 
Pilate  were  reconciled,  when  the  Lord  of  life  was  to  be 
crucified. 

Charles,  being  determined  to  make  the  terms  of 
confo?y)iity,  at  least,  as  rigorous  as  they  were  under 
his  father,  and  the  execrable  Laud,  affected  an  ap- 
pearance of  moderation,  until  a  new  parliament 
should  disclose  the  strength  of  the  respective  poli- 
tical parties.  Wherefore,  in  furtherance  of  this  royal 
and  prelatical  scheme  of  hypocrisy  and  fraud,  after 
the  declaration  was  published,  a  commission  was 
granted  to  twelve,  with  nine  assistants  on  each  side, 
to  meet  at  the  Savoy,  and  consider  the  m.eans  oi  uniting 
both. 

At  their  first  meeting,  Sheldon  said,  the  church- 
men had   not  desired  the  meeting  ;  for  they  were  sa- 


182  BAXTER— GUNNING. 

tisfied  with  the  legal  establishment;  and  the  puritans 
must  give,  in  xvriting,  all  their  proposed  alterations, 
at   once ;    whereas,   an   amicable    conference   had   been 
promised.     Papers   were    given  in ;    the  presbyterians 
moving,  that  archbishop  Usher's  reduction   should  be 
the  basis    on  which  to  treat ;  that  bishops  should  not 
govern  their  diocese  by  their  own  single  authority,  nor 
depute  it  to  lay  officers  in  their  courts ;    but  in  ordina- 
tion and  jurisdiction,  should  use   the  counsel  and  the 
concurrence   of  the  presbyters.     They  excepted  to  the 
responses  in  the  liturgy  ;    to  the  lessons  taken  from  the 
Apocrypha;  to  the  use  of  psalms  translated  from  the 
Vulgate,    instead  of  the  new  Knglish  version  ;  to  those 
parts  of  the  office  of  baptism,    importing  the  inward  re- 
generation of  all  the  baptized  ;  to  a  compelled  posture 
at  the  Lord's  Supper ;  to  the  use  of  the  surplice,  the 
cross   in    baptism,  of  godfathers,   as    sponsors,    and  of 
holy-days.      They   likewise    offered    a   liturgy,    newdy 
drawn  by  Richard  Baxter. 

Sheldon  availed  himself  of  the  multitude  of  their 
objections ;  and  above  all,  of  their  offering  a  new 
liturgy ;  and  a  loud  outcry  was  raised  against  them, 
as  persons  whom  nothing  could  satisfy.  The  whole 
matter  w-as,  at  length,  reduced  to  one  point ;  namely, 
if  it  were  lawful  to  determine  the  certain  use  of 
things  indifferent  in  the  worship  of  God  ?  Upon  this 
question  they  disputed  some  days ;  Baxter  being  the 
chief  speaker  for  the  puritans.  Gunning,  afterwards 
bishop  of  Chichester,  and  then  of  Ely,  for  the  church- 
men. 

Baxter's  character  is  well  known.  Mr.  Wilber- 
force,  in  his  "  Practical  View,"  ranks  him  among  the 
highest  names  of  the  Anglican  Church  ,  ranks  him 
with  Davenant,  Jewell,  Plall,  Reynolds,  Beveridge, 
Hooker,  Andrews,  Leigh  ton,  Usher,  Hopkins,  and 
a  host  of  other  great  evangelical  divines.  "  I  must," 
says  this  eminent  statesman,  patriot,  philanthropist 
and  Christian,  "class  among  the  brightest  ornaments 
of  the  church  of  England,  this  great  man,  who,  with  his 


STRICTER    CONFORMITY.  183 

brethren,  was  so  shamefully  ejected  from  the  church  in 
1662,  in  violation  of  the  royal  word,  as  well  as  of  the 
clear  principles  of  justice." 

Gunning  is  described  by  Burnet,  as  a  man  of  great 
reading,  and  special  subtlety  of  arguing  ;  using  all  the 
arts  of  sopliistry  on  all  occasions,  as  confidently  as  if 
they  had  been  sound  reasoning ;  and  earnest  for  recon- 
ciling the  Roman  and  Anglican  Churches,  to  effect 
which  he  laboured  to  clear  popery  from  the  charge  of 
idolatry.  He  wanted  the  church  of  England  to  pray 
for  the  dead ;  to  use  oil  in  unction  ;  and  to  adopt  many 
other  parts  of  the  popish  ritual. 

The  dispute  between  this  protestant  papist  and  Bax- 
ter consumed  the  whole  time  allotted  for  the  commission ; 
and  nothing  was  settled.  The  state  bishops  insisted 
upon  the  existing  laws ;  and  charged  the  puritans  with 
schism,  for  having  excepted  to  the  discipline  of  the  es- 
tablished church.  The  puritans  were  industriously  re- 
presented as  enemies  to  all  order  ;  much  heat  and  per- 
sonal animosity  were  exhibited  at  the  Savoy  conference; 
and  when  Baxter  said  that  such  things  would  offend 
many  good  men  in  the  nation,  Stearn,  archbishop  of 
York,  observed,  that  thepuritan  would  not  say  ki?ig-do?n, 
but  nation,  because  he  would  not  acknowledge  a  king. 
A  return  sufficiently  vile  for  the  zeal,  which  the  prcsby- 
terians  had  shown,  in  bringing  about  the  restoration  of 
Charles. 

This  conference  only  increased  the  mutual  dislike  of 
both  parties.  The  presbyterians  complained  to  the 
king,  who  disregarded  tliem  ;  and  the  state  bishops 
laboured  to  render  the  terms  of  conformity  muck  stricter^ 
than  they  were  under  Laud.  AVhence  it  was  resolved 
to  subject  lecturers,  as  well  as  incumbents,  to  oaths  and 
subscri})tions ;  and  compel  all  persons  to  subscribe  an 
unfeigned  assent  and  consent  to  all  and  every  particular 
contained  in  the  common  prayer  book  ;  the  act  requiring 
an  assent  and  consent  to  the  use  of  all  things  in  that 
book.  Another  subscription  was  enacted,  in  relation  to 
the  league  and  covenant,  declaring  it  unlawful,  upon  any 


184  FOREKIX  4:)RDlNATION. 

grounds,   to  take  arms  against  the  king,   and  that  the 
covenant  was,  in  itself,  an  unlawful  oath. 

This  blow  was  levelled  against  the  old  men,  who  had 
taken  the  covenant ;  an  oath,  which  Charles  himself  had 
swallowed,  and  as  thoroughly  digested  as  he  did  every 
other  oath. 

Formerly,  those  who  came  to  England  from  other 
churches,  were  not  required  to  be  ordained  there ;  a 
community  of  faith  being  considered  as  giving  a  common 
validity  to  each  other's  ordinances.  But,  by  the  act  of 
uniformity,  all  clerks,  not  episcopally  ordained,  were 
rendered  incapable  of  holding  any  ecclesiastical  benefice 
in  the  church  of  England.  The  bishops  made  some 
alterations  in  the  liturgy  ;  adding  new  collects ;  as, 
the  prayer  for  all  conditions  of  men,  and  the  general 
thanksgiving.  They  were  base  enough,  in  the  collect 
for  the  parliament,  to  style  Charles  their  most  religious 
king :  a  novel  epithet,  which  occasioned  much  indecent 
mirth  in  that  infamous  and  impious  monarch's  own 
court. 

One  addition  of  importance,  however,  was  made 
by  Gawden's  men;  namely,  a  declaration,  explain- 
ing why  they  knelt  at  the  sacrament ;  inserted  in 
Edward's,  but  omitted  in  Elizabeth's  liturgy.  The 
papists  were  highly  offended  at  this  express  declara- 
tion against  the  real  presence ;  and  the  duke  of 
York  asked  Sheldon  how  they  came  to  declare  against 
that  doctrine  ?  Sheldon  answered,  "askGawden,  who 
is  a  bishop  of  your  own  making ;"  for  Charles  had, 
himself,  ordered  Gawden  to  be  made  bishop. 

The  convocation,  also,  added  some  new  holy-days, 
to  wit :  Saint  Barnabas,  and  the  conversion  of  Paul ; 
took  in  mo7X  lessons  from  the  Apocrypha,  particu- 
larly, Bel  and  the  Dragon ;  and  penned  two  new  of- 
fices ;  the  thirtieth  of  January,  called  king  Charles 
the  martyr,  in  which  a  blasphemous  comparison  is 
made  between  the  merits  of  Christ,  and  of  the  de- 
capitated monarch ;  and  the  twenty-ninth  of  May, 
the  auspicious   day  of  Charles    the  second's   gracious 


FRENCH    BAllTHOLOMEW.  185 

birth,  and  most  felicitous  restoration.  These  offices 
\vcre  drawn  np  by  Bancroft,  in  a  very  high  strain  of 
formal  flattery. 

The  choice  and  returns  of  the  members  of  the 
convocation  were  so  managed,  as  to  make  them  all 
move,  like  so  many  puppets,  directed  by  Sheldon 
and  JMorley.  When  they  had  finished,  tliey  oflPered 
their  alterations  to  the  king,  who  sent  them  to  the 
commons,  where  the  act  of  uniformity  was  prepared 
by  Keeling,  afterwards  chief  justice.  When  the  act 
was  brought  into  the  house,  many  apprehended  the 
evil  consequences  of  its  severity ;  whereupon,  the 
house  was  llUed  with  prodigious  rumours  of  presby- 
terian  plots  in  several  counties.  Many  were  taken 
up  on  these  reports ;  none  were  tried  ;  and  all  were 
liberated,  as  soon  as  the  pious  fraud  had  effected  its 
purpose ;  to  wit, — the  passing  of  this  most  execrable 
statute ;  which,  after  all  the  flagitious  eflbrts  of 
Charles,  and  his  state  bishops,  passed  only  by  a  lean 
majority. 

By  the  provisions  of  this  ever-memorable  act,  all 
who  did  not  conform  to  the  liturgy  by  the  24th  of 
August,  Bartholomew  day,  in  1662,  were  deprived  of 
all  ecclesiastical  benefices  in  the  state  church ;  leav- 
ing no  discretionary  power  with  the  king  to  exercise 
the  prerogative  of  mercy  in  its  execution  ;  and  making 
no  provision  for  the  maintenance  of  those  thus  deprived 
of  all  the  means  of  subsistence.  A  severity  this,  of 
Charles's  established  bishops,  not  practised,  even  by  the 
arbitrary  Elizabeth,  in  enacting  her  liturgy  ;  nor  by 
the  usurping  Cromwell,  in  ejecting  the  episcopal  clergy. 
For,  in  both  these  instances,  one-fifth  of  the  benefice 
was  by  law  reserved  for  the  maintenance  of  the  ejected 
clerks. 

In  many  parts  of  England,  the  ministers  could  not 
procure  the  common  prayer  book,  before  the  day 
on  which  they  were  to  swear  to  it,  or  lose  their  liv- 
ings. Honest  men  called  to  mind  the  Bartholomew, 
held  in  Paris,  ninety  years  before,  in  1572;  on  which 
day  a  popish  government,  headed  by  its  king,  Cliarlcs, 


186  EJECTED    MINISTEllS. 

who  fired  repeatedly,  with  his  own  hand,  upon  the 
French  people,  from  the  windows  of  the  palace,  butchered 
thirty  thousand  protestants ;  massacreing  all  the  Hu- 
guenots they  could  find  and  master,  without  distinction 
of  age  or  sex. 

The  prayer  book,  with  the  new  corrections,  which 
they  were  to  subscribe,  was  printed  so  slowly,  and 
with  so  many  'purposed  delays,  that  ve7'y  feiv  copies 
were  ready,  when  that  fatal  day  came;  whence,  many 
ministers,  well  affected  to  the  church,  but  making 
conscience,  as  well  they  might,  (whatever  formalists 
may  think  of  an  oath,  when  weighed  in  the  scales 
against  a  church  living,)  of  swearing  to  a  book  they 
had  not  seen,  left  their  benefices  on  that  very  ac- 
count. Many  hastened  to  London,  on  purpose  to  see 
it ;  but  the  great  body  of  tjie  established  church  cler- 
gy swore  point  blank,  their  assent  and  consent  to  a 
book  which  they  had  never  seen.  The  presbyteri- 
ans  had  many  meetings  about  conformity  ;  Reynolds 
accepted  the  bishopric  of  Norwich  ;  but  Calamy 
and  Baxter  refused  the  sees  of  Litchfield  and  Here- 
ford. 

Full  tztv  thousand  ministers  were  ejected,  leaving 
in  the  established  church  its  entire  compliment  of 
formal,  secular,  irreligious  clergy ;  an  order  of  men, 
which  generally,  nay,  necessarily,  flourishes,  in  propor- 
tion to  the  intimate  connexion  between  secular  and 
ecclesiastical  government;  an  order  of  men,  which, 
certainly,  fi'om  the  day  of  St.  Bartholomew,  in  1662,  to 
the  present  hour,  has  constituted  a  fearjul  majority 
of  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons,  in  the  Anglican 
Church. 

Mr.  Locke  styles  these  ejected  ministers,  learned, 
pious,  orthodox  divines ;  and  without  a  peradven- 
ture,  their  superiors  in  piety,  talent,  learning,  and 
integrity,  the  world  has  never  seen ;  as  abundantly 
appears  from  their  writings,  life,  and  conversation. 
A  contemporary  churchman,  but  not  a  formalist, 
says,  "  I  am  glad  so  many  have  chosen  suffering,  ra- 
ther than   conformity  to   the  establishment ;    for   had 


NONCONFOIIMISTS.  187 

they  complied,  the  world  would  have  thought  there 
was  nothing  in  religion.  But  now  they  have  a  strik- 
ing proof  "that  some  are  sincere  in  their  profession. 
They  have  sufFered  the  loss  of  all  things ;  is  it  for  mere 
honour,  720^  conscience  or  religion?  have  they  so  little 
wit,  as  not  to  knov/  what  is  best,  good  livings  or  nasty 
prisons  ?  do  they  hate  their  wives  and  children  ?  They 
declare,  they  cannot  conform  ;  who  should  know  best, 
they,  or  we  ?" 

Richard  Baxter  told  bishop  Burnet,   that  if  Cliarles 
had  faithfully  kept   the  terms  of  his   own   declaration, 
not  more  than  three  hundred  ministers  would  have  been 
deprived.     Scarcely  any  of  the  high  church  episcopa- 
lians disapproved  of  this  atrocious  act,   which  cast  out 
so  many   excellent  men  to  penury,   and  ignominy  and 
suffering;  which  heaped  upon   them  so  much  spiteful 
usage  and  persecution  ;  which  compelled  them  to  form 
separate  congregations,  and  to  lay  the  basis  of  an  ever 
widening  dissent  from  the  English  church   establish- 
ment ;  whose  own  formalism,   unless  it  be  crushed  or 
checked,  will,   eventually,  draw  down  the  ruin  of  that 
establishment,  without   the  concurrent  aid  of  hostility 
from  any  other  quarter. 

The  blame  of  all  this  iniquity  fell  heavily  on  Sheldon, 
whom  Charles  had  made  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  for 
having  no  sense  of  religion.  Clarendon,  also,  was 
charged  with  fraud,  in  entertaining  the  presbyterians 
with  fair  promises,  while  he  v.as  aiding  the  infamous 
scheme  of  the  state  bishops;  contrary  to  his  own  better 
judgment,  as  well  as  in  direct  violation  of  all  the  prin- 
ciples of  integrity. 

From  this  time,  the  name  of  puritan  was  exchang- 
ed for  that  of  nonconformist ;  including  presbyteri- 
ans, independents,  baptists,  and  quakers.  They  pe- 
titioned Charles  for  an  indulgence  ;  which  he  was  in- 
clined to  grant,  in  order  to  cover  the  yapists ;  but 
the  parliament  gave  him  money,  to  supply  his  extra- 
vagance, and  promote  his  profligacy  ;  in  consequence 
of  which,  the  nonconformists  were  left  to  the  tender 
mercies    of   formal    high    churchmen,    who   generally 


188  GRASPING    STATE    CLERGY. 

have  about  as  much  mercy,  as  there  is  milk  in  a  male 
tiger. 

Some  of  the  ejected  ministers  practised  occasional 
conformity,  by  attending  the  estaWished  church, 
and  joining  in  its  worship ;  although  they  could  not, 
conscientiously,  swear  assent  to  every  thing  in  the 
prayer  book.  Dr.  Calamy  being  present  at  his  late 
parish  of  Aldermanbury,  London,  was  invited  to 
jircach,  as  the  person  expected  to  officiate  did  not 
come.  For  complying  with  this  request,  he  was  cast 
into  Newgate. 

When    the    convocation     had    new    modelled    the 
prayer   book,    it    was    proposed,     under    a    clau.se    in 
Charles's  license,  to  consider  the  canons  of  the  church. 
They  had    the  power    then    to  reform    many  abuses ; 
particularly,   to   remedy  those  springing  from  the  poor 
maintenance  of  inferior   incumbents.      Almost  all  the 
church  leases  in  England  had  fallen  in  ;  and  the  fines 
for   their  renewal  amounted   to   a   million  and  a  half 
sterling,  about  seven   millions  of  dollars ;  the  idtole  of 
which   was  pocketed  by  the  conforming  state   clergy  ; 
not   a  farthing  being  applied  to  augment   the  poorer 
livings.     In  some  sees,    forty  or  fifty  tliousand  pounds 
sterling,  beside  the  annual  income,  fell  to  the  bishop's 
share.       In   this.    Clarendon   was   charged,  as  being  a 
greater  friend  to  the  existing  state  bishops,  than  to  the 
Anglican  Church  itself. 

The  grasping  these  immense  fines  by  the  bishops, 
afforded  a  laudable  example  to  all  the  lower  etsa- 
blished  dignitaries,  which  they  scrupulously  follow- 
ed; and  took  much  better  care  of  themselves,  than 
the  interests,  whether  spiritual  or  temporal,  of  the 
church.  AVith  this  vast  accession  of  wealth,  luxury, 
high  living,  and  dissipation,  broke  in  upon  the  state 
clergy;  many  of  whom  made  large  purchases  of  land, 
and  left  great  estates.  The  elder  clerks,  not  merely 
the  bishops,  for  English  bishops,  generally  speaking, 
have  never  been  guilty  of  frequent  preaching,  of  any 
kind,  but  smaller  ecclesiastics,  also,  became  lazy,  and 
ncghgent  of  all  the  true  concerns  of  the  church  ;  tliey 


PHILOSOrHICAT.     DIVINES.  189 

left  preaching  and  writing  to  others  ;  and  gave  them- 
selves up  to  ease,  and  sloth,  and  bodily  indulgence. 

So  few  were  the  exceptions  to  such  unprincipled  con- 
duct, that  bishop  Burnet  says,  if  a  new  set  of  men  of 
another  stamp  had  not  appeared,  the  established  Eng- 
lish church  would  have,  altogether,  lost  her  esteem  in 
the  eyes  of  the  nation. 

These  men,  according  to  Burnet,  were,  for  the  most 
part,  formed  under  the  celebrated  divines,  Whitchcot, 
Cudworth,  Wilkins,  More  and  Worthington.  Their 
main  object  was  to  establish  men  in  the  great  principles 
of  religion,  against  the  tide  of  atheism  and  impiety, 
which  was  flowing  all  over  the  country,  from  the 
])rofligacy  of  the  king  and  his  court,  and  from  the 
formalism  of  the  established  clergy.  Whitchcot 
used  his  whole  influence  to  protect  good  men  of  all  per- 
suasions;  was  a  great  advocate  for  liberty  of  conscience; 
laboured  to  amend  the  dry,  systematic  preaching  of  his 
day;  set  his  students  to  peruse  the  ancient  philosopliers, 
chiefly  Plato,  Tully,  and  Plotin  ;  and  taught  them  to 
consider  Christianity  as  a  religion  sent  from  God,  to 
elevate  and  sweeten  human  nature.  Cudworth  pushed 
the  same  scheme,  with  vast  genius  and  immense  learn- 
ing. 

Wilkins  married  Cromwells  sister,  and  laboured  to 
divert  men  from  party  violence,  narrow  notions,  super- 
stitious conceits,  and  fierceness  about  opinions.  ]\Iore 
was  an  openhearted  Christian  philosopher,  who  laboured 
strenuously  against  the  atheism,  then  gaining  ground, 
and  much  forwarded  by  Hobbes,  whose  Leviathan  had 
taught  the  materiality  of  the  soul;  that  interest  and 
fear  are  the  chief  principles  of  human  society  ;  that  all 
morality  consists  in  following  our  own  private  will  or 
advantage ;  that  religion  has  no  other  foundation  than 
the  law  of  the  land ;  which  law  consists  in  the  absolute 
will  of  the  government,  whether  royal  or  republi- 
can. 

These  abomiuable  notions  found  willing  recipients  in 
Charles  liimself,  in  his  courtiers  generally,  and  in  too 
many  throughout  the  nation  at  large. 


190  INFinELITY — FORMALISM. 

To  counteract  these  impieties,  the  Cambridge  divines 
laboured  to  set  forth  the  principles  of  religion  and  mo- 
rality, on  philosophical  grounds.  Would  it  not  have 
been  better  to  preach  the  pure,  unsophisticated  Gospel? 
seeing  that  the  experience  of  all  time  shows,  that  the 
infidelity,  natural  to  the  human  heart,  and  fostered  by 
intercourse  with  the  world,  gives  way  to  the  foolishness 
of  faithful  preaching,  when  it  only  hardens  its  front 
against  all  the  efforts  of  the  unassisted  wisdom  and 
science  of  philosophy  ;  and  seeing  also,  that  infidelity 
was  never  more  rife  in  Knglaiid,  than  during  the  whole 
period  when  her  philosophical  divines,  from  Cudworth 
to  Butler,  were  employed  in  buttressing  up  the  out- 
works of  revelation ;  and  seeing,  likevv^ise,  that  infi- 
delity has  been  beaten  down  in  England  to  a  greater 
extent,  during  the  last  fifty  years,  since  evangelical 
preaching  has  found  its  way  into  the  established  church, 
as  well  as  pervaded  the  worship  of  the  orthodox  dis- 
senters, than  it  was  from  the  Bartholomew  persecution,  in 
1662,  down  to  the  middle  of  the  reign  of  George  the 
second  ;  an  interval  of  nearly  an  entire  century. 

The  prevalence  of  formalism  in  any  church,  but  more 
especially  in  a  national  establishment,  of  whatever  per- 
suasion, denomination,  or  sect,  is  a  broad,  and  deep, 
and  perennial  fovuitain  of  infidelity,  and  its  inseparable 
adjuncts,  immorality  and  profligacy. 

These  English  divines,  however,  and  those  trained 
by  them,  studied  to  examine  further  into  the  "  nature 
of  things,'''  than  other  men ;  they  declared  alike 
against  superstition  and  fanaticism ;  they  were  warmly 
attached  to  the  constitution  of  the  Anglican  Church, 
and  her  liturgy  ;  but  did  not  think  it  unlawful  to  live 
under  another  form  of  ecclesiastical  government  or 
worship.  They  wished  more  moderation  to  be  shown 
to  nonconformists  and  dissenters ;  for  which  spirit 
of  Christian  tolerance,  the  fiercer  episcopal  formalists 
fastened  upon  them  the  appellation  of  latituclina- 
rians ;  and  stigmatized  them  as  enemies  to  "  the 
church." 

Doubtless,  their  keeping   up  a  friendly  intercourse 


EMPEROR    OF    AUSTRIA.  191 

with  those  who  differed  from  them  in  opinion,  as  to 
ecclesiastical  matters,  and  allowing  a  liberal  range  in 
pliilosophy  and  divinity,  would  be  pecuUarly  offensive 
to  all  who  rank  churchmanship  higher  than  Christi- 
anity. Such  persons,  bearing  a  close  intellectual  re- 
semblance to  the  Austrian  emperor,  as  exhibited  in  his 
own  precious  declaration  to  the  Laybach  professors, 
in  1821.  This  sapient,  royal  formalist  referred  the 
academicians  to  the  times  that  are  past;  "stick  to 
what  is  old,"  quoth  this  imperial  feeder  of  tame  rabbits, 
"  whatever  is  old,  is  good  ;  I  want  not  learned  men, 
but  good  subjects." 

This  is  the  veritable  language  of  formalism,  both  in 
church  and  state  ;  blind,  passive  obedience,  not  a  rea- 
sonable service,  is  required,  alike  by  the  formal  bishop, 
and  the  secular  despot.  The  emperor  of  Austria  has 
manifested  his  undissembled  hostility  to  piety  and  learn- 
ing, by  a  still  more  recent  measure ;  namely,  the  expul- 
sion of  all  protestant  teachers  from  his  dominions,  and 
consigning  the  ivhole  education  of  the  empire  to  the  care 
and  tuition  of  the  most  holy  order  of  the  Jesuits.  This 
is,  indeed,  a  bold  attempt  to  put  the  intellectual  clock 
of  Europe  back,  one  thousand  years ;  and  to  veil  the 
nineteenth  in  the  darkness  of  the  ninth  century.  But 
the  attempt  must  fail ;  there  is  too  much  light  in 
other  parts  of  the  world,  to  prevent  an  occasional  ray 
from  now  and  then  piercing,  even  into  the  thick  gloom 
of  Austria. 

These  divines  read  Episcopius  much ;  but  were 
strenuous  assailants  of  popery ;  whence  the  papists, 
who  are  generally  the  stoutest  of  all  possible  formal- 
ists, branded  them  as  atheists,  and  deists,  and  So- 
cinians.  And  to  prove  this  charge,  the  Romanists 
themselves  occupied  the  ground  of  atheism,  by  af- 
firming, that  there  is  no  other  certain  proof  of  Chris- 
tianity, than  the  authority  of  the  Roman  church ; 
thereby  showing  their  preference  of  atheists  to  pro- 
testants ;  which  is  the  very  essence  of  bigoted  and 
sectarian  formalism.  The  papists  joined  forces  with 
Hobbes  and  his  followers,   so  far  as  to  publisli   books, 


192  POPKllY — IRENICUM. 

declaring,  that  the  truth  of  Christianity  rests  entirely 
upon  the  authority  of  their  infallible  church.  Which 
proves,  that  tliey  had  rather  men  would  become  athe- 
ists, if  they  will  not  turn  papists,  than  believe  the 
revelation  of  God,  on  the  testimony  of  his  own  word; 
or  on  any  other  ground,  besides  that  of  papal  infal- 
libility. 

The  most  eminent  of  those,  who  were  formed  un- 
der these  great  divines,  were  Tillotson,  Stillingfleet, 
and  Patrick.  Tillotson  was  esteemed  the  best 
preacher  of  his  age  ;  was  a  decided  enemy  to  pope- 
ry, and  persecution,  and  atheism ;  and  was  the  ob- 
ject of  perpetual  abuse  and  calumny  to  the  formal 
high  churchmen,  in  the  establishment.  Stillingfleet 
was  a  much  more  learned  man.  While  yet  young, 
he  wrote  his  Irenicum ;  a  work  of  great  learning  and 
moderation ;  for  the  express  purpose  of  healing  the 
breaches  between  churchmen  and  nonconformists.  In 
it  he  labours  to  show,  that  the  apostles  had  settled 
the  Christian  church,  in  a  constitution  of  bishops, 
priests,  and  deacons  ;  but  had  made  no  perpetual  law 
about  it ;  having  only  taken  it,  as  they  had  borrowed 
many  other  things,  from  the  customs  and  practice  of 
the  Jewish  synagogue ;  whence  he  infers,  that  such  a 
constitution  is  lawful,  because  authorized  by  them  ;  but 
not  necessary,  since  they  had  made  no  settled  law  re- 
specting it. 

This  book  was  exceedingly  clamoured  against,  as 
an  attempt  against  the  Anglican  Church  ;  but  the  ar- 
gument was  managed  with  so  much  learning  and  skill, 
that  its  enemies  never  undertook  to  answer  it.  After- 
wards, when  Stillingfleet  saw  a  state  mitre  in  the  per- 
spective, he  retracted  his  Irenicum;  and  yielded  largely 
to  tlie  humours  of  those  high  churchmen,  who  profess  to 
hold  the  divine,  the  exclusive  right  of  episcopacy  ;  and 
consign  all  other  religious  denominations  to  an  unco- 
venanted  contingency. 

Stillingfleet  also  wrote  in  a  most  masterly  manner 
against  popery  and  infidelity.  Patrick  was  a  great 
preacher,    and    a   voluminous  writer.       His   comment- 


NKW    STYLE    OF    PREACHTNO.  193 

ary  on  a  large  portion  of  the  Old  Testament,  from  Ge- 
nesis to  Canticles,  both  inclnsive,  is  too  well  known  to 
require  remark.  He  was  diligent  in  the  discharge  of 
his  clerical  functions ;  but  too  severe  against  tliose  who 
differed  from  him  in  opinion.  As  he  grew  older,  how- 
ever, he  became  more  moderate. 

To  these,  bishop  Burnet  adds  Lloyd ;  an  Oxford  stu- 
dent, bred  by  bishop  Wilkins.  He  was  more  learned 
than  any  of  them;  a  great  Greek  and  Latin  critic,  chiefly 
in  the  Scriptures ;  and  was  supposed  to  have  read  and 
digested  more  than  any  divine  of  his  age  ;  yet  never  ne- 
glected his  pastoral  care,  in  the  parish  of  St.  Martin's, 
the  largest  cure  in  England  ;  which  he  discharged  with 
a  zeal  and  application  that  cast  a  deep  reproach  upon 
the  general  remissness  and  negligence  of  the  established 
clergy. 

These  men  contributed  much  to  improve  the  style 
of  preaching  in  the  English  church;  which,  at  that  time, 
was  grievously  debased  by  pedantry;  by  a  large  medley 
of  quotations  from  the  Greek  and  Latin  fathers,  and 
from  ancient  heathens;  by  a  long  opening  of  the  text, 
with  a  concordance  of  every  word  in  it,  and  a  setting 
forth  of  all  their  different  expositions,  with  the  grounds 
thereof,  and  an  exhibition  of  some  controversial  points  ; 
all  wound  up  in  a  most  lame  and  impotent  conclusion, 
of  a  very  short,  very  imperfect,  very  general,  very  vague 
application  to  the  consciences  and  circumstances  of  the 
congregation. 

For  this  mode  of  sermonizing,  in  itself,  long  and 
heavy,  flat  and  low,  patched  and  piebald  with 
many-coloured  rags  of  different  tongues ;  was  sub- 
stituted a  short  paraphrase  of  the  text,  an  exposi- 
tion of  real  difficulties,  an  avoidance  of  all  unneces- 
sary shows  of  learning,  an  ample  opening  and  ex- 
planation of  the  subject  matter  ;  and,  on  the  whole, 
so  instructive  a  course  of  preaching,  as  not  only  to 
secure  a  numerous  audience,  but  also  to  raise  the 
reputation  of,  and  to  soften  the  prejudices  against, 
the  established  church ;  at  a  time  when  religion  ex- 
ceedingly languished    in    England,   and    the    church- 

o 


194  BARTHOLOMEW    EXECUTION. 

men,  generally,  were  much  more  intent  on  flattering 
an  iniquitous  government,  on  grasping  ecclesiastical 
preferment,  and  on  persecuting  the  nonconformists, 
than  on  preaching  the  Gospel  in  its  simple  purity  ; 
and  faithfully  discharging  their  pastoral  duty  towards 
the  unhappy  flocks  committed  to  their  spiritual 
care. 

Charles's  cabinet  council  debated  much,  if  the 
Bartholowew  act  should  be  punctually  executed. 
Some  moved  to  delay  its  execution  to  the  next  ses- 
sion of  parliament;  others,  that,  in  its  execution, 
some  eminent  men  might  be  suffered  to  preach  on, 
till  they  died,  placing  curates  in  their  churches,  to 
read  the  prayer  book.  The  earl  of  Manchester  laid 
all  these  things  before  Charles ;  but  Sheldon,  like 
another  Laud,  snuffing  the  scent  of  human  blood, 
pressed  the  prompt  and  rigorous  execution  of  the  law  ; 
promising  that  lie  would  fill  all  the  forsaken  pulpits 
in  London,  with  better  men  than  their  present  incum- 
bents. 

The  ejected  ministers  cast  themselves  upon  the  pro- 
vidence of  God  for  support,  rather  than  belie  their 
consciences ;  which  obtained  the  respect  and  esteem 
of  all  honest  men  ;  while  the  established,  formal  clergy, 
now  wallowing  in  wealth,  and  luxury,  and  dissipation, 
were  as  much  despised  and  execrated.  Verily,  these, 
and  all  other  persecuting  formalists,  sliall  have  their 
reward. 

After  Bartholomew's  day,  the  dissenters,  seeing 
the  merciless  cruelty  of  Charles,  and  his  state  bi- 
shops, consulted  how  they  should  act :  many  pro- 
posed to  go  to  Holland,  and  settle  there  with  their 
ministers ;  while  some  preferred  New-England.  On 
this,  the  earl  of  Bristol  drew  to  his  house  a  meeting 
of  the  chief  papists  in  London,  to  whom,  after  an 
oath  of  secrecy,  he  said,  that  now  was  the  time  to 
begin  to  bring  in  popery,  by  means  of  a  toleration, 
wide  enough  to  cover  both  the  nonconformists  and 
themselves.  Lord  Aubigny  seconded  the  motion, 
saying,  it  was  so  visibly  England's  interest  to  retain 


CONVENTICLE    ACT.  195 

within  her  own  bosom  so  large  a  body  of  trading  men, 
that  it  would  be  popular  for  the  papists  to  seem  zealous 
for  it. 

Charles  approved  of  the  scheme,  and  in  December 
166'2,  put  forth  a  declaration,  expressing  his  own  aver- 
sion from  all  severities  on  account  of  religion  ;  and, 
more  especially,  his  dislike  to  all  sanguinary  laws ;  and 
holding  out  hopes,  both  to  papists  and  nonconformists, 
that  he  would  so  temper  the  severity  of  the  laws,  as  to 
render  all  his  subjects  easy.  The  nonconformists,  per- 
ceiving the  rank  odour  of  popery  in  the  royal  hypo- 
crite's declaration,  received  it  coldly  ;  but  the  papists 
began  forthwith  to  prepare  a  plan  for  their  own  tolera- 
tion ;  which  was  not  easy,  because  some  were  willing 
to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance,  which  renounces  the 
pope's  deposing  power ;  a  deadly  sin,  for  which  the 
Internuncio,  at  Brussels,  denounced  them  as  traitors 
against  the  holy  see. 

Bishop  Burnet  says,  that,  at  this  time,  the  papists 
feared  nothing  so  much  as  a  union  of  churchmen  and 
presbyterians,  which  would  have  been  fatal  to  the 
cause  of  popery  in  England.  The  papists  had  two 
maxims,  from  which  they  never  de])arted;  one,  to 
divide  the  English  protestants ;  the  other,  to  keep 
themselves  united ;  and,  either  to  procure  an  indiscri- 
minate toleration,  or  a  general  persecution.  This 
popish  scheme  the  established  church  formalists  pro- 
moted, in  order  to  crush  all  evangelism  among  the  state 
clergy. 

In  the  year  1663,  Charles  and  his  bishops  had  the 
conventicle  act  passed,  empowering  justices  of  the 
peace  to  convict  offenders,  without  the  intervention 
of  a  jury;  a  manifest  breach  of  the  English  constitu- 
tion ;  if  England  could  be  said  to  have  any  consti- 
tution, while  labouring  under  the  execrable  dynasty 
of  the  Stuarts.  Any  meeting  for  religious  worship, 
at  which  ^fc  more  than  the  family  were  present,  was 
declared  a  conventicle.  And  every  one  above  six- 
teen, present  at  it,  was  to  lie  three  months  in  prison, 
or  pay  five  pounds,  for  the  first  offence ;  the  penalty 

o  2 


196  FIVE    MILE    ACT. 

for  the  second  offence  was  six  months'  imprisonment, 
or  a  fine  of  twenty  pounds  ;  for  the  third,  banishment 
to  any  plantation,  except  New-England  or  Virginia  ; 
and  if  they  returned  from  banishment,  they  were  to 
suffer  death. 

The  oath  of  a  single  informer  was  sufficient  to  enable 
a  justice  of  the  peace  to  inflict  all  this  severity ;  and 
while  many  of  the  best  men  in  England,  best  in  piety, 
talents,  learning  and  integrity,  crowded  the  gaols 
of  that  country,  the  basest  of  the  human  race  rioted 
in  vulgar  debauchery,  by  informing  for  the  sake  of  the 
reward. 

But  no  measure  of  vindictive  cruelty  could  satisfy 
the  formal  state  clergy,  who,  in  1665,  induced  the 
parliament  to  pass  a  law,  called  the  jive  mile  act ;  pro- 
hibiting the  nonconformists  from  approaching  any  cor- 
porate town,  unless  they  would  take  an  oath  of  passive 
obedience  and  nonresistance.  They  were  also  forbidden 
to  keep  school,  or  take  boarders;  and  thus  were  de- 
liberately consigned,  by  men  who  passed  for  protestant 
clergymen,  to  actual  starvation,  because  they  feared  God 
rather  than  man  ;  and  lived  by  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 

The  cause  of  this  act  was  as  infjimous  as  its  exe- 
cution was  cruel.  When  London  was  visited  with  tlie 
plague,  the  great  body  of  the  established  clergy  ran 
away,  and  left  their  flocks  to  perish.  The  nonconform- 
ists went  into  the  empty  pulpits,  and  preached  the 
Gospel  to  a  people,  deserted  by  their  own  parish  priests, 
under  the  most  awful  of  all  human  calamities.  This 
was  too  heinous  a  crime  to  pass  unpunished  ;  and  a  bill 
was  brought  into  the  house  of  commons,  the  court  and 
parliament  then  sitting  at  Oxford,  requiring  all  the 
silenced  ministers  to  take  an  oath,  declaring  it  not 
lawful,  on  any  pretence,  to  take  arms  against  the  king, 
or  any  commission  by  him  ;  and  that  they  would  not, 
at  any  time,  endeavour  an  alteration  in  the  government 
of  church  and  state. 

On  refusal  to  swear,  they  were  not  to  come  within 
jive  miles  of  any  city,  or  parliament  borough,  or  the 


CHAllLES'S    HYPOCRISY.  197 

church  which  they  had  formerly  served.  This  infamous 
bill  was  opposed  in  the  house  of  lords  by  the  earl  of 
Southampton,  who  said,  that  he  could  not  himself  take 
such  an  oath ;  for,  as  things  were  managed,  he  might 
see  cause  to  endeavour  an  alteration.  Of  all  the  state 
bishops,  Sheldon  and  Ward  were  the  most  eager  to  pass 
this  act;  in  which  they  were  joined  by  all  the  patrons 
of  poper'i) ;  their  constant  maxim  being  to  reduce  the 
dissenters  to  such  a  desperate  state,  that  they  should  be 
compelled  to  ask  for  a  toleration  on  Charles's  own 
terms. 

Nay,  the  established  clergy  faction  would  not  suffer 
the  word  "  legally,'''  to  be  added  to  "  commissioned  by 
the  king."  The  act  was  passed,  and  plunged  the  non- 
conformists into  great  extremities.  They  could  not, 
conscientiously,  take  such  an  oath ;  nor  did  they  know  how 
to  locate  themselves  in  any  part  of  England,  under  the 
terms  of  the  law,  w^iich  deprived  many  of  them  of  all 
the  means  of  their  subsistence. 

The  nonconformists  were  harassed  by  fine  and  im- 
prisonment, without  cessation,  until  the  year  1667, 
when  the  ill  success  of  his  impolitic  and  iniquitous  war 
against  the  Dutch,  induced  Charles  to  endeavour  to 
recover  some  portion  of  the  attachment  of  the  English 
people,  which  his  unprinci])led  and  arbitrary  conduct 
had  deservedly  destroyed.  He  knew,  full  well,  that  slack- 
ening tlie  execution  of  the  laws  against  dissenters  would 
please  the  city  of  London,  and  the  trading  part  of  the 
nation  generally ;  wherefore,  at  intervals,  the  persecu- 
tion was  somew^hat  mitigated. 

Burnet  says,  that  Charles  had  such  a  command  of 
himself,  that  when  his  interest  led  him  to  serve  any 
end,  or  to  court  any  sort  of  men,  he  did  it  so  dexterous- 
ly and  with  such  an  air  of  sincerity,  that,  till  men  were 
well  practised  in  him,  he  was  apt  to  impose  on  them. 
He  seemed  now  to  be  so  hearty  in  the  cause  of  modera- 
tion and  comprehension,  that  sir  Orlando  Bridgman 
and  bishop  Wilkins  believed  him  to  be  in  earnest ; 
although  there  was  nothing  in  which  his  popish  coun- 
sels were  more  fixed,  than    to  oppose  all  such  plans. 


198  MAKING    A    BISHOP. 

But  Charles  saw  that  it  was  necessary  to  recover  the 
good  opinion  of  the  English  people  ;  and  as  the  church- 
men were  rather  shy  of  him,  upon  the  disgrace  of  their  great 
patron,  Clarendon,  he  resolved  to  show  some  semblance 
of  favour  to  the  dissenters ;  both  to  soften  them,  and 
force  the  churchmen  back  to  their  usual  dependence 
upon,  and  sycophancy  towards  him. 

He  vented  his  anger  at  the  state  bishops,  in  the 
council  board ;  and,  on  complaints  from  them,  of  dis- 
orders and  conventicles,  said,  and  said  most  truly, 
that  the  established  clergy  were  to  blame ;  for  if  they 
had  lived  well,  and  gone  about  their  parishes,  and 
taken  pains  to  convince  the  nonconformists,  the  nation 
might  have  been  settled  ;  but  they  thought  of  nothing, 
but  to  get  good  benefices,  and  to  keep  a  good  table. 
Burnet  says,  that  in  a  conversation  with  Charles, 
in  his  closet,  he  was  struck  to  hear  a  prince  oihis  course 
of  life,  so  much  disgusted  at  the  ambition,  the  covetous- 
ness,  and  scandals  of  the  established  clergy. 

The  king  said,  "  if  the  clergy  had  done  their  part, 
it  had  been  easy  to  settle  the  nonconformists ;  but 
they  will  do  nothing,  and  push  vie  on  to  do  every 
thing.  I  had  a  chaplain,  an  honest  man,  but  a  great 
blockhead,  to  whom  I  gave  a  living  in  Suffolk,  full 
of  that  sort  of  people;  he  went  about  among  them 
from  house  to  house,  though  1  cannot  imagine  what 
he  could  say  to  them,  for  he  was  a  very  silly  fel- 
low; but  I  believe  his  nonsense  suited  theirs,  for  he 
brought  them  all  to  the  church;  and  in  reward  of 
his  diligence,  I  have  given  him  a  bishopric  in  Ire- 
land." 

If  such  had  been  always  the  grounds  on  which 
Charles  made  bishops,  the  Bartholomew,  conventicle 
and  five  mile  acts,  would  never  have  stamped  with 
indelible  infamy  the  British  statute  book.  And,  al- 
though the  royal  profligate  might  deem  piety  non- 
sense, and  an  honest  man  a  blockhead;  it  would 
have  been  infinitely  better  for  old  England,  in  all 
her  national,  social,  domestic,  and  individual  interests, 
if   her    established    clergy   had   lured    her    people   to 


COMPRliHENSlON    SCHEME.  199 

church,  by  the  same  means,  which  this  conscientious 
chaplain,  rector,  and  bishop  used ;  instead  of  first 
filling  the  country  with  nonconformists,  by  their 
own  fraudulent  and  iniquitous  measures ;  and  then 
j)ersccuting  by  fines,  by  imprisonment,  and  by  exile, 
those  whom  they  ha^  forced  into  nonconformity. 

And  it  would  be  infinitely  better  for  old  England 
norv,  if  her  government  would  manufocture  bishops 
out  of  the  same  staple  that  supplied  this  Irish 
prelate ;  instead  of  promoting  men  to  the  episcopate, 
for  their  popish,  their  pelagian,  their  formal,  their 
secular  views,  opinions,  character,  and  conduct. 

•As  Charles  complained  so  loudly  of  the  unprinci- 
pled and  cruel  course  of  the  state  bishops,  and  con- 
forming clergy  generally,  who  increased  the  number 
of  dissenters  by  their  scandalous  behaviour;  which 
the  people  could  not  but  contrast  with  that  of  the 
ejected  ministers ;  a  toleration  was  proposed  by  the 
more  moderate  divines  of  the  establishment.  But  this 
was  so  violently  clamoured  against  by  the  high  church 
formalists,  that  the  nonconformists  were  subjected 
to  a  renewed,  and  a  still  severer  persecution. 

Bridgman  and  Wilkins  set  on  foot  a  treaty  for  a 
compreliensio7i  of  such  dissenters  as  would  commune 
with  the  established  church ;  and  a  toleration  of  the 
rest.  Chief  justice  Hale,  Tillotson,  Stillingfleet  and 
Burton,  concurred.  Bates,  Manton  and  Baxter  were 
called  on  the  side  of  the  presby terians ;  and  a  pro- 
ject was  prepared,  similar  to  that  promised  by 
Charles,  in  his  declaration,  published  in  16()0,  and 
so  flagrantly  falsified  by  the  Bartholomew  act.  All 
the  ultras  and  formalists  cried  out,  that  tJie  church 
was  undermined  and  betrayed.  The  more  moderate 
divines  answered,  that  yielding  in  lesser  and  indif- 
ferent matters  would  be  no  reproach,  but  an  honour 
to  the  church.  The  Apostles  complied  with  many 
Jewish  observances ;  and  the  African  church  offered 
much  to  the  Donatists.  The  progress  of  popery  and 
atJieism,  in  England,  alarmed  all  the  wise  and 
good ;   and  taught  them  that   all  which  could  be  done, 


200  PAllKEll MARVEL. 

\vitliout   sin,  should   be  done   to   heal    protestant    di- 
visions. 

A  paper  war  fanned  the  flames  on  both  sides. 
Ralph  Willis,  the  cobbler  of  Gloucester,  published  an 
account  of  the  scandalous  lives  of  many  of  the  establish- 
ed clergy.  On  the  other  side,  books  v^^ere  written  to 
expose  the  presbyterians  ;  as  having  false  notions  in 
religion,  leading  to  antinomianism,  and  a  dissolution  of 
morals,  under  pretence  of  being  justified  by  faith 
only  ;  which,  be  it  remembered,  the  eleventh  article  of 
the  Anglican  Church  itself  expressly  asserts  to  be  "  a 
most  wholesome  doctrine."  The  three  volumes  of  the 
"  Friendly  Debate"  were  also  levelled  at  the  noncon- 
formists. 

But  the  most  virulent  champion  of  state  episcopacy 
was  Parker,  made  bishop  of  Oxford,  by  James;  a  man, 
described  by  Burnet  as  full  of  satirical  vivacity,  of  con- 
siderable learning,  of  no  judgment,  of  as  little  virtue, 
and,  as  to  religion,  rather  ivipious.  Indeed,  he  did 
not  scruple  to  declare,  publicly,  "that  it  was  more 
necessary  to  set  a  severe  government  over  men's  con- 
sciences and  religious  persuasions,  than  over  their  vices 
and  imDLoralities.  Goodly  qualifications  these,  for  a 
protestant  prelate  ! 

Parker's  lucubrations  were  answered  by  Andrew 
Marvel,  the  liveliest  droll  of  the  age,  whose  wit  ef- 
fected more  than  all  the  learning  of  Dr.  Owens 
grave  replies.  It  was  written  in  so  entertaining  a 
manner,  that,  from  the  king  and  his  mistresses  down 
to  the  lowest  orders,  "the  Rehearsal  transposed"  was 
read  with  delight;  and  chagrined  and  humbled 
Parker,  and  the  whole  faction  of  formal,  clerical 
persecutors.  But  whatever  advantages  the  friends 
of  comprehension  and  toleration  might  have,  on  the 
side  of  wisdom,  wit,  and  justice,  the  high  church- 
men had  such  influence  in  a  packed  house  of  com- 
mons, as  to  induce  those  inflexible  guardians  of  re- 
ligious and  civil  liberty,  to  pass  a  most  extraordinary 
vote,  that  no  bill  for  such  a  purpose  should  be  received 
in  parliament. 


VENAL    PAllLIAMENT.  201 

The  court,  says  Burnet,  delivered  itself  up  to 
vice;  and  the  house  of  commons  lost  all  respect  in 
the  nation,  hecause  they  still  gave  all  the  money 
which  Charles  asked,  to  meet  the  continual  expendi- 
ture of  his  extravagance  and  profligacy.  When  an 
inquiry  was  made  into  the  expenses  of  the  Dutch 
war,  great  part  of  which  money  Charles  had  con- 
verted to  his  own  use,  the  chief  men,  who  promot- 
ed this  inquiry,  were  taken  off,  the  cant  phrase  then 
used  for  bribery,  in  which  the  court  made  such  pro- 
gress, that  it  was  thought  the  king  would  never  part 
with  a  parliament,  in  which  every  man's  price  was 
known  ;  for  as  any  one  rose  in  the  house,  he  raised 
his  price. 

In  the  course  of  this  inquiry,  the  carelessness,  lux- 
ury, and  dissipation  of  the  court,  were  so  much  ex- 
posed, that  Charles  was  greatly  exasperated ;  and  lent 
a  willing  ear  to  his  sycophants,  who  magnified  absolute 
governments,  particularly  that  of  France,  and  said, 
how  easily  lie  could  shake  off  the  restraints  of  law  ; 
as  Denmark  passed,  in  one  day,  from  an  elective  to  an 
hereditary  and  despotic  crown.  Charles  liked  the  pro- 
ject well,  but  was  too  indolent,  and  too  dastardly  to 
attempt  its  immediate  execution  ;  and  therefore  went 
on  in  the  common  sheep  track  of  Stuart  kingcraft,  ba- 
lancing one  party  against  another  ;  occasionally  doing 
popular  acts,  to  get  money  from  his  parliament,  under 
pretence  of  supporting  the  triple  alliance  against  France 
and  popery. 

Some  members  struggled  in  vain  to  oppose  this 
profligate  waste  of  the  people's  money;  and,  among 
the  rest,  sir  John  Coventry ;  who  proposed  laying  a 
tax  on  'playhouses ;  then  the  sink  of  all  prostitution 
and  dissoluteness.  The  court  party  protested  against 
such  a  tax,  saying,  the  players  were  the  king's  servants, 
and  a  part  of  his  pleasure.  Coventry  asked,  whether 
the  king's  pleasure  did  lie  among  the  men,  or  the 
women,  that  acted  ?  Whereupon,  Charles,  in  spite 
of  his  brother  James's  remojistrances  to   the  contrary, 


202  SIR    JOHN    COVENTRY. 

sent  some  of  his  own  guards  to  waylay  Coventry,  and 
set  the  king's  mark  upon  him. 

Sands,  Obrian,  and  others,  drew  their  swords  on 
him,  as  he  was  entering  his  lodgings ;  Coventry  seized 
a  flambeau  with  one  hand,  and  with  his  sword  in  the 
other,  defended  himself  valiantly  against  his  numerous 
assailants.  After  wounding  some  of  the  guardsmen, 
he  was  disarmed  by  the  rest,  who  slit  his  nose  open  to 
the  hone:  to  teach  him,  they  said,  to  respect  the 
king.  In  this  state  they  left  him,  and  went  back 
to  the  duke  of  Monmouth's,  where  Obrian's  arm  was 
dressed. 

Such  was  the  condition  oi  civil  liberty  in  England, 
under  this  precious  limb  of  the  Stuart  body  ;  nor  was 
religions  liberty  in  a  better  state,  under  the  auspices 
of  this  supreme  secular  head  of  the  established  church. 
During  the  great  fire,  which  had  consumed  so  large  a 
portion  of  the  city  of  London,  as  during  the  de- 
vastations of  the  plague,  the  regular  national  clergy 
had  deserted  their  flocks ;  and  the  nonconformists 
administered  spiritual  consolation  to  the  suffering 
and  bereaved  people.  Wherefore,  in  1669,  when 
the  city  was  rebuilt,  an  act  was  proposed,  reviving 
the  former  act  against  conventicles,  with  some  ad- 
ditional severities  ;  namely,  that  in  any  case  of  doubt 
concerning  the  meaning  of  any  part  of  the  law,  it 
should  be  determined  in  the  sense  7nost  hostile  to  con- 
venticles ;  and  that  every  justice  should  be  heavily 
fined,  if  he  did  not  execute  the  law,  upon  information 
given. 

Upon  this,  many  justices  resigned  their  commissions, 
rather  than  be  the  instruments  of  such  ecclesiastical 
tyranny.  No  jury  trial  was  allowed  ;  but  the  noncon- 
formists were  exposed  to  conviction  on  the  oath  of  a 
single  informer,  who  received  one-third  of  the  exorbi- 
tant fine.  This  infernal  act  was  so  rigorously  executed 
in  Starling's  mayoralty,  that  all  London  was  in  dis- 
order, and  many  merchants  prepared  to  remove  to 
Holland,  with  their  industry  and  trading  capital.     But 


LORD    SID  mouth's    BILL.  203 

still  the  informers  were  encouraged,  and  every  where 
labouring  in  their  regular  vocation.  Among  other 
dissenters,  the  quakers,  or  friends,  suffered  very  se- 
verely, and  with  great  firmness  and  resolution,  during 
this  protestant  episcopal  established  church  persecu- 
tion. 

The  present  limits  do  not  allow  of  tracing  the  foot- 
tracks  of  persecution,  marked  by  the  course  of  the 
Anglican  Church,  any  farther.  Her  labours,  in  that 
part  of  her  calling,  during  the  remainder  of  the  reign 
of  Charles  the  second,  and  the  reigns  of  James,  of 
William,  of  Ann,  and  of  the  Brunswick  sovereigns, 
must  be  reserved  for  future  notice. 

It  is,  however,  necessary  to  observe,  that  the  church 
of  England  has  7iot  yet  learned  the  wisdom,  which 
flows  from  the  mild  and  tolerant  spirit  of  Christianity, 
notwithstanding  the  experience  of  the  iniquity  and  the 
evil  of  persecution,  for  nearly  three  centuries.  A  very  few 
years  since,  lord  Sidmouth  brought  a  bill  into  the  house 
of  peers,  the  effect  of  which,  had  it  passed  into  a  law, 
would  have  been  to  renew  the  blessings  of  the  Bartho- 
lomew, the  conventicle,  and  the  five  mile  acts.  But 
the  English  dissenters,  of  all  denominations,  uniting 
together,  poured  in  such  a  flood  of  petitions  against 
the  bill,  as  compelled  the  British  government  to 
desist  from  their  proposed  crusade  against  evange- 
lism. 

The  reverend  doctor  Coke,  an  eminent  clergyman 
in  the  Wesleyan  connexion,  called  upon  lord  Sidmouth, 
while  this  bill  was  in  agitation,  and  told  him,  that  if 
it  became  a  law,  its  first  operation  would  be  to  send 
four  thousand  methodist  local  preachers  to  gaol.  For 
these  men  could  not  conscientiously  desist  from  preach- 
ing the  Gospel,  merely  because  his  lordship  and  the 
established  church  wished  to  silence  them  ;  as  two  thou- 
sand evangelical  ministers  had  been  silenced  in  the  year 
1662.  But,  notwithstanding  this  plain  and  intelligible 
declaration,  the  sagacious  statesman  persisted  in  bring- 
ing his  project  of  persecution  before  the  house  of 
lords. 


204  STATE    CHUUCHES. 

In  the  year  1811,  was  made  tins  notable  effort  to 
break  up  the  toleration  act,  and  destroy  religious  liberty 
in  England;  by  imposing  new  and  intolerable  restrictions 
upon  the  dissenters.  The  noble  viscount's  eloquence  was 
employed  in  describing  the  nonconforming  preachers,  as, 
"  blacksmiths,  cobblers,  tailors,  pedlers,  chimney-sweep- 
ers, and  xvhat  not."  This  eloquence  was  backed  by  the 
pious  efforts  of  the  formal,  high  church  bishops,  who 
were,  however,  frightened  by,  what  the  primate  of 
Canterbury  called  "  the  flood  of  petitions,  which  de- 
luged the  table  of  the  house  of  lords."  The  lay  peers 
of  England  did  their  duty  on  that  day ;  and  by  their 
speeches  and  votes,  in  favour  of  universal  religious 
freedom,  not  only  defeated  the  noble  doctor's  at- 
tempt to  poison  piety  in  the  phial  of  persecution ; 
but  actually  obtained  an  enlargement  of  the  privi- 
leges of  protestant  dissenters. 

The  immediate  operation  of  lord  Sidmouth's  bill,  if 
enacted  into  a  law,  would  have  been  to  crowd  the 
gaols  of  England  with  four  thousand  methodist 
preachers,  and  a  still  greater  number  of  independent, 
or  congregational,  clergy ;  for  the  crime  of  preach- 
ing the  pure  Gospel.  Leaving  at  large  Socinians, 
formalists,  deists,  and  atheists,  to  edify  a  Chris- 
tian community.  But  the  event  of  this  flagitious 
effort  proved,  that  the  ecclesiastical  tyranny  of  the 
seventeenth,  cannot  be  revived  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. 

England  seems  never  to  have  been  able  to  divest 
herself  of  the  notion  of  the  necessity  of  a  national,  or 
state  church,  which  must  absorb  all  religion  in  its 
own  established  gulf;  and  to  whose  dominion  all 
must  bend.  During  the  reign  of  the  Tudors,  parti- 
cularly of  Elizabeth,  the  English  government  made 
a  wide  difference  in  its  treatment  of  those,  who  were 
attached  to  a  particular  form  of  church  order,  at 
home,  or  abroad.  Thus,  in  England,  nonepisco- 
palians  were  fined,  imprisoned,  pilloried,  banished, 
butchered,  at  the  same  time  that  aid  was  afforded  to 


ENGLISH    INFIDELITY.  C05 

tlie  Huguenots  in  France,  and  to  the  Dutch  insurgents 
against  Spain. 

"  In  justice  to  the  Stuarts,  it  must  be  acknowledged 
tliat  Twt  one  of  them  ever  aided  a  foreign  protestant ; 
thev  were  all  too  much  occupied  in  persecuting  Eng- 
lish and  Scottish  protestants  at  home.  And  when 
the  presbvterians  gained  the  ascendancy,  during  the 
latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Charles,  and  during  the 
protectorate  of  Cromwell,  they  endeavoured  to  force 
all  England  into  a  prcsbyterian  state  church  ;  while 
they  were  disposed  to  be  kindly  towards  the  congre- 
gationalists  of  New-England.  At  all  times,  how- 
ever, under  a  national  churcli,  whether  episcopa- 
lian, or  prcsbyterian,  or  independent,  the  established 
clergy,  when  they  tail  to  convince  others  by  the 
force  of  their  oral  or  written  arguments,  are  very 
desirous  of  calling  in  to  their  aid  those  two  great 
doctors  in  theology,  those  resident  graduates  of  the 
scourge  and  of  the  gallows ;  the  beadle  and  the 
hangman. 

If  a  national  church  establishment  he  necessary 
to  promote  piety,  and  prevent  heatlicnism  in  a  coun- 
try, hoiv  is  it,  that  during  the  full  influence  of  the 
English  church  establishment,  from  its  restoration, 
under  Charles  the  second,  to  the  middle  of  the  reign 
of  George  the  second,  ififidclity  was  so  much  diffused 
in  England :  and  that  its  progress  was  never  effect- 
uallv  checked,  until  after  the  revivals  of  religion  by 
AVliitfield  and  Wesley,  and  their  followers;  which 
revivals,  the  Anglican  national  church  establishment 
have  ahcai/s  laboured,  and  do  now  labour,  to  the  ex- 
treme extent  of  their  power,  to  oppose  and  to  de- 
stroy ^ 

Mr.  Southey  himself,  a  very  strenuous  and  a  very 
able  advocate  for  the  established  church  of  Eng- 
land, admits,  in  his  life  of  John  U^esley,  that  the 
constitution  of  that  clerical  establishment  has  a  na- 
tural tendency  to  produce  irreligious,  formal  minis- 
ters ;  who  are  precisely  the  sort  of  clergy  best  calculated 


206  CHURCH    TENDENCIES. 

to  promote  infidelity  among  the  laity,  by  divesting 
Christianity  of  all  its  spiritual  attractions  and  principles. 
The  Anglican  Church  offers  an  easy,  respectable  provi- 
sion for  the  younger  sons  of  the  nobility  and  gentry, 
who  take  up  the  clerical,  as  they  would  any  secular 
calling  ;  and,  being  settled  upon  family  livings,  inflict 
deep  and  deadly  wounds  upon  the  character  of  the  esta- 
blishment ;  and  offer  grievous  violence  to  the  religious 
feelings  of  the  nation. 

Their  inability,  or  disinclination  for  the  sacred  of- 
fice, into  which  they  are  thrust  for  a  morsel  of  bread, 
is  a  fearful  thing  for  themselves,  and  a  horrible  cala- 
mity for  the  people  committed  to  their  unfaithful 
charge.  Nay,  even  when  the  motives  for  entering  the 
established  church  are  not  thus  palpably  gross,  the 
choice  is  far  more  frequently  made,  from  motives  of  con- 
venience and  worldly  circumstances,  than  from  a  de- 
liberate and  conscientious  determination  of  the  will  and 
judgment. 

Influence  in  an  endowed  school,  or  a  prospect  of 
promotion  at  college,  destines  boys  for  holy  orders ; 
with  little  reference  to  their  ialents  and  disposition ; 
nay,  sometimes,  because  they  are  thought  too  dull  and 
incompetent  for  any  other  vocation.  And  when  no 
unfitness  exists,  the  destination  is  usually  regarded  with 
ominous  indifference  ;  as  if  it  might  be  entered  upon 
with  as  little  forethought  and  feeling,  as  any  secular 
profession  or  branch  of  trade;  as  if  all  the  heart,  and  all 
the  soul,  and  all  the  strength  of  man,  were  not  required 
for  the  due  performance  of  its  duties;  and  a  minister  of 
the  Gospel  were  responsible  for  nothing  more  than  what 
the  rubric  enjoins. 

In  addition  to  the  deadly  formalism  of  the  Eng- 
lish state  clergy,  a  speculative  infidelity  was  import- 
ed from  France,  w^here  it  originated  in  a  corrupt  es- 
tablished, or  national,  church,  and  a  most  infamously 
licentious  literature.  In  this  school,  some  of  the 
leading  statesmen  of  Charles  the  second,  together 
with  their  royal  master,  had  been  trained.     Of  course 


XO^rIXAL    CHRISTIANITY.  207 

the  people  of  EiiglaiKl,  generally,  were  not  instructed  in 
the  pure  principles  of  evangelical  faith  ;  and  knew  little, 
if  any  thing,  more  of  religion  than  its  exterior  forms. 
They  had  been  papists  ;  were  then  protestants  ;  but 
never  had  been  Christians. 

The  Reformation  had  taken  away  some  of  the  out- 
ward ceremonies,  to  which  they  were  attached,  and 
substituted  nothing  in  their  stead.  To  the  mass  of  the 
people,  the  Bible  was  a  sealed  book  ;  because  the  system 
of  general  education,  desired  by  the  fathers  of  the 
Anglican  Church,  and  intended  by  Edward  the  sixth, 
had  never  been  provided.  Nevertheless,  the  Reforma- 
tion produced  great  national  blessings.  It  delivered 
England  from  spiritual  bondage ;  it  set  her  intellect 
free ;  it  rid  her  of  the  gross  idolatry,  and  abominable 
impostures  of  the  popish  church,  and  of  those  infamous 
practices,  which  stifle  religion,  and  corrupt  national 
morals. 

Yet  too  little  care  was  taken  to  teach  the  educated 
classes  the  principles  of  pure  religion ;  and  the 
greater  part  of  the  nation  were  altogether  uneducat- 
ed. Christians,  only  by  the  mere  ceremony  of  Jjcip- 
tism ;  and  being  in  a  state  of  heathen,  or  worse  than 
heathen,  ignorance.  In  truth,  they  never  had  been 
converted  ;  at  first,  one  idolatry  was  substituted  for 
another ;  and,  when  the  popish  idolatry  was  expelled, 
the  people  became  only  nominal  Christians ;  they 
were  left  as  ignorant  of  7^eal  Christianity,  as  they 
were  found,  in  succession,  by  popery  and  by  protest- 
antism. 

With  the  rise  and  progress  of  formalism  in  the  es- 
tablished church  of  England,  has  been  intimately  con- 
nected the  growth  of  infidelity  and  immorality  in  that 
country.  Much  detail  on  this  subject  is  not  necessary  ; 
it  will  be  sufficient  to  refer  generally  to  writers  of  vari- 
ous religious  denominations,  and  to  state  a  few  particu- 
lars, showing  the  prevalence  of  formalism  and  infidelity 
in  England,  from  the  time  of  Charles  the  second,  to  the 
present  hour. 


208  SAMUF.J.    SHAW. 

Eisliop  Burnet's  "History  of  his  own  Time"  af- 
fords an  ample  view  of  the  formalism  and  irreligion 
of  the  Anglican  Church  establishment,  under  the  Stu- 
art dynasty  ;  together  with  her  horrible  persecutions 
of  all  those  who  dissented  from  her,  whether  in  doc- 
trine or  in  discipline.  Indeed,  her  bloody  cruelty 
was  more  fiercely  directed  against  the  dissidents  in 
church  government,  than  against  those  who  differed 
from  her  in  religious  opinions.  The  puritans  did  not 
separate  from  the  English  church,  on  account  of  her 
doctrines,  for  in  them  they  agreed  with  her;  but  on 
account  of  the  burdensome  ceremonies,  and  popish 
superstitions  imposed  by  her;  and  above  all,  by  the 
abominable  hook  of  sports,  so  foolishly  promulgated 
by  James  and  Charles  ;  and  so  mercilessly  enforced  by 
I^aud. 

The  reader  may  form  some  notion  of  the  state  of 
religion  and  morals  in  England,  in  those  awful  times, 
under  the  full  and  triumphant  auspices  of  the  esta- 
blished cliurch,  by  a  single  fact;  showing  the  extremi- 
ties and  devices,  to  which  pious  persons  were  driven,  in 
order  to  worship  God  by  stealth ;  while  every  species 
of  infidelity  and  profligacy  were  openly  encouraged 
throughout  the  whole  country. 

The  reverend  Samuel  Shaw  was  ejected  from  his 
living,  in  1661,  about  a  year  before  the  Bartholomew 
act  was  published ;  he  being  an  incumbent,  substi- 
tuted by  parliament  for  a  sequestered  episcopal  clerk  ; 
and  therefore,  on  the  restoration  of  Charles,  cast  out 
by  law,  as  one  whose  title  was  originally  void,  be- 
cause illegal.  A  gentleman  says,  in  reference  to  this 
ousted  clergyman,  "  I  have  known  him  spend  many 
days,  and  nights  too,  in  religious  exercises,  when  the 
times  were  so  dangerous,  that  it  would  hazard  an 
imprisonment  for  a  person  7iot  to  be  drunk,  or  in  a 
bawdy-house,  or  tavern  ;  but  to  be  worshipping  God, 
with  five  or  six  people,  like  minded  with  himself.  I 
have  been  sometimes  in  Mr.  Shaw's  company,  for  a 
whole  night  together,  when  we  have  been  obliged  to 


ROOKS    rii<:CO!\IiMKNDED.  209 

steal  to  tlie  place  in  the  dark,  stop  out  the  light,  and 
stop  in  the  voice,  by  clothing,  and  fast  closing  the  win- 
dows, till  the  first  daybreak  down  a  chimney  has  warned 
us  to  be  gone.  I  bless  God  for  such  -seasons.  If  some 
say,  it  was  needless  to  do  so  much  ;  I  reply,  the  life  of 
our  souls,  and  eternity,  which  only  was  minded  there, 
required  more." 

A  careful  perusal  of  the  following  works  will  en- 
able the  reader  to  trace  the  progress  of  formalism, 
and  irreligion,  in  the  church  establishment  and  people 
of  England,  from  the  time,  more  especially,  of 
Charles  the  second,  to  the  revival  of  religion,  in  tlie 
reign  of  George  the  second  ;  and  from  that  revival  to 
the  ])resent  period,  when  its  evangelical  clergy,  still  a 
small  and  unprotected  band,  are  endeavouring,  in  spite 
of  the  frowns  and  persecution  of  the  secular  government, 
the  hierarchy,  and  ecclesiastical  dignitaries,  generally,  to 
restore  that  august,  and  venerable  church,  to  the  purity 
of  Scriptural  doctrine,  established  by  her  first  reformers, 
and  by  them  embodied  into  her  articles,  homilies,  and 
liturgy. 

On  the  dissenting  side,  the  account  may  be  traced 
from  the  Reformation  to  the  year  1808,  in  Neale's  His- 
tory of  the  Puritans  ;  Calamy's  Nonconformist's  JNIe- 
morial ;  and  Bogue  and  Bennet's  History  of  Dissent- 
ers. To  which  add  Brooks'  I^ives  of  the  Puritans, 
and  Wilson's  History  of  Dissenting  Churches,  contain- 
ing an  appendix  on  the  origin,  progress,  and  present 
state  of  Christianity,  in  Britain.  On  the  cluu-ch  side, 
may  be  consulted  Middleton's  Evangelical  Biography ; 
and  Grant's  Summary  of  the  History  of  the  English 
Church. 

Bishop  Stillingfleet,  in  the  epistle  dedicatory,  and 
preface  to  his  Origines  Sacrae,  written  in  the  year 
1662,  two  years  after  the  restoration  of  Charles,  and  in 
the  same  year  when  the  bloody  Bartholotnew  act  was 
got  up  by  Sheldon  and  his  brother  prelates,  complains 
of  the  general  prevalence  of  infidelity,  atheism  and  im- 
morality in  England. 

P 


210  PROFIJGATE    COURT. 

Ill  the  preface  of  Dr.  Owen's  incomparable  exposi- 
tion of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  this  subject  is 
examined  at  greater  length.  In  stating  the  reasons 
why  Dr.  Owen  felt  himself  called  upon  to  enforce  the 
duty  of  remembering  the  Sabbath  day,  to  keep  it  holy, 
it  is  said,  that  the  personal  profligacy  of  Charles  had 
created  a  most  profligate  court ;  and  too  many  of  the 
people  followed  this  pernicious  and  perilous  example. 
All  immoral  man  never  wishes  to  contemplate  the  cofi- 
seqiiences  of  his  conduct.  He  hatetli  the  light,  neither 
Cometh  to  the  light,  lest  his  deeds  should  be  reproved. 
The  light  of  heaven,  then,  must  not,  by  any  means,  dis- 
turb the  king's  dream  of  voluptuous  delight.  Pure  and 
imdefiled  religion  is  banished  from  the  palace.  Pro- 
phesy not  again  any  more  at  Bethel ;  for  it  is  the  king's 
chapel,  and  it  is  the  king's  court. 

But  though  the  unwelcome  voice  of  pure  religion 
may  be  heard  no  more  at  all  in  it ;  yet  the  recollec- 
tions of  religion  may  still  haunt  the  mind.  Fear 
must,  therefore,  if  possible,  be  excluded,  as  well  fas 
grace  and  truth.  To  accomplish  this,  intoxicating 
pleasures  are  multiplied.  The  moral  necessities  of 
the  court  call  loudly  for  carousals,  and  for  masque- 
rades, for  buffoons,  and  for  players,  for  dramatic  and 
burlesque  writers ;  that  these,  all  labouring  accord- 
ing to  their  several  vocations,  may  preoccupy  every 
hour,  and  depress  every  rising  thought  of  religion. 
Accordingly,  religious  men  were  systematically  ridi- 
culed by  this  supreme  head  of  the  established  church, 
and  by  his  courtiers  and  prostitutes,  then  the  author- 
ized channels  of  church  patronage.  A  profession 
of  religion  was  assumed  to  be  a  full  proof  of  hypo- 
crisy ;  and  gravity,  and  sound  speech,  which  cannot 
be  condemned,  were  deemed  fit  subjects  for  perpetual 
laughter.  Amidst  "  mimicked  statesmen,  and  their 
merry  king,"  the  just  and  upright  man  is  laughed  to 
scorn. 

-  But  as  the  hand-writing  appeared  on  the  wall, 
while  Belshazzar,  despising  the  God  of  Israel,  was 
drinking  wine  before    his   thousand  lords,  and  prais- 


IXFIDET.ITV.  211 

ino'  tlie  gods  of  gold,  and  of  silver,  and  of  brass; 
so,  in  the  midst  of  all  this  profane  mirth,  the  heart  of 
the  king  may  soon  be  made  sad  ;  for  the  anticipa- 
tions of  futurity  may  intrude  ;  and  they  alxmiys  damp 
and  darken  unprincipled  gaiety.  Moreover,  in  the 
throngest  succession  of  dissipation,  there  are  hours 
when  a  man  is  thrown  back  upon  himself,  and  must 
think. 

Now,  for  these  dark  hours  in  the  lives  of  profligate 
men,  whether  monarchs  or  subjects,  whether  clerks 
or  laics,  infidelitij  engages  to  make  provision  ;  and 
tries  to  substantiate  its  claims  to  regard.  To  attend 
to  a  train  of  reasoning,  more  mental  exertion  is  re- 
quisite than  profligate  men  are  willing  to  bestow  on 
the  subject  of  religion.  But  doubt  may  be  expressed 
in  a  few  words ;  objections,  misrepresentations,  and 
ludicrous  allusions,  may  be  soon  made,  and  are  easily 
remembered.  Accordingly,  though  they  could  never 
disprove  anij  one  of  the  evidences  of  Chistianity,  they 
could  boldly  affirm,  that  the  whole  of  this  evidence 
was  doubtful,  at  best;  that  the  Christian  doctrines 
were  contradictory  and  incredible  ;  and  that  the  moral- 
ity of  Scripture  was  rigid,  and  inapplicable  to  tlie  con- 
dition of  man. 

And  in  proportion  as  any  one  possessed  the  mind 
which  was  in  Christ  Jesus,  though  they  had  no  evil 
thing  to  say  of  him,  they  could  endeavour  to  hold  him 
up  to  scorn,  under  the  reviling  epithets  of  illiberal,  or 
morose,  or  visionary,  or  hypocritical,  or  enthusiastic,  or 
fanatical.  They  who  talked  thus,  and  they  who  lis- 
tened, were  equally  willing  to  support  these  assertions; 
their  proof  was  not  required.  Wit  and  raillery  supplied 
the  place  both  of  principle  and  argument;  and  wealth, 
festivity,  and  increasing  numbers  gave  spirit  to  their 
infidel  exertions. 

To  the  patrons  of  such  sentiments,  the  weekly  re- 
currence of  the  Lords  day  was  peculiarly  unwelcome. 
This  sacred  day  has  ever  been  an  eminent  instru- 
ment in  propagating  Christian  truth,  and  in  forming- 
Christian  character.      Of  this  the  puritans  had   been 

V  2 


212  SABRATII    PROFANATION". 

fully  aware ;  they  had  enfoiccd  the  doctrines  of 
Scripture  on  this  subject,  and,  under  their  potent 
ministrations,  a  serious  impression  of  the  importance 
of  sanctifying  tlie  Sabbath  liad  been  widely  diffused. 
The  profanation  of  t])is  holy  day  had  been  systemati- 
cally encouraged  by  Elizabeth,  and  James,  and 
Charles,  and  their  state  bishops,  and  established  clergy ; 
doubtless,  another  proof  of  the  necessity  of  a  church 
establishment,  to  promote  piety,  and  pre^'ent  hea- 
thenism. 

Of  the  religious  effects  which  followed  the  strict 
observance  of  this  blessed  day,  yrofanc  and  infidel 
men  were  also  aware.  And  they  were  anxious  to 
counteract  its  influence ;  not  merely  because  they 
were  unwilling  to  worship  God  themselves,  but  also, 
because  they  hoped  to  supplant  religious  principle, 
by  introducing  a  neglect  of  religious  ordinances.  A 
serious  regard  to  the  duties  of  'private  worship  was 
now  considered  as  beneath  the  character  of  a  man  of 
rank ;  and  a  contempt  of  every  public  appearance  of 
devotion,  was  a  distinguishing  mark  of  the  king's 
own  peculiar  friends  and  favourites ;  the  dispen- 
sers of  bishoprics  and  benefices  in  the  established 
church. 

When  Charles  himself  was  in  the  house  of  God,  he 
seemed  to  be  afraid,  lest  it  should  not  be  sufficiently 
known  that  he  neither  feared  God,  nor  regarded 
man.  And  Pharaoh  said,  tvho  is  the  Lord,  that  / 
should  obey  his  voice  ?  The  king's  example  was 
followed  by  the  minions  of  his  })leasures  ;  and  the 
conduct  of  the  court,  however  infamous,  will  always 
be  followed  by  multitudes  of  the  people.  Religious 
men,  in  every  age,  have  seen  cause  to  lament,  that 
so  many  neglect  the  duties  of  the  Sabbath  ;  but  at 
this  period,  when  the  Anglican  Church  establishment 
was  in  possession  of  plenary  power,  and  employing 
that  power  in  persecuting  every  appearance  of  piety, 
the  profanation  of  the  Lords  day  was  open,  avowed, 
audacious,  universal.  The  torrent  of  infidelity,  which 
descended  from    the  throne   of  Charles,  and   from  the 


CHURCH    FORMALISM.  2lti 

arcliiepiscopate  of  Sheldon,  was  swollen  in  its  pro- 
gress tliroiigh  the  different  gradations  of  society,  and 
deluged  all  the  land.  O  ray  people,  they  who  lead 
thee  cause  thee  to  err,  and  destroy  the  way  of  thy 
paths. 

The  attention  of  Dr.  Owen  had  been  often  directed 
with  grief  to  this  declining  state  of  religion  in  Eng- 
land ;  and  he  tells  us,  that  to  the  introduction  of  a 
great  neglect  of  the  duties  of  the  Sabbath  might  be 
ascribed  'much  of  the  profaneness  and  impiety  which 
had  become  so  general.  While  studying  the  fourth 
chapter  of  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  he  carefully 
examined  the  Scripture  doctrine  respecting  the  Lord's 
day.  The  result  of  this  examination  is  contain- 
ed in  six  exercitations,  concerning  the  name,  the 
origin,  the  nature,  the  use,  and  the  continuance  of  a 
day  of  sacred  rest ;  and  practical  directions  for  the 
due  observance  of  this  day  are  subjoined.  They 
were  published  in  I67I,  in  a  detached  form,  that 
they  might  be  read  more  extensively,  and  with- 
out delay.  They  are  now  published  in  the  Edin- 
burgh edition,  in 'l 81 2,  of  Owen's  Exposition  of  He- 
brews. 

As  might  naturally  be  expected  from  a  formal  state 
church,  Supported  by  an  infidel,  secular  government, 
Charles  the  second  and  his  established  bishops  filled 
Scotland  with  the  blood  of  her  holiest  men  ;  covered 
England  with  profaneness  and  profligacy,  and  laid  the 
axe  to  the  root  of  all  evangelical  religion  in  the  na- 
tional church  establishment;  and  laboured  to  entail 
a  perpetuity  of  formalism  and  ungodUness  upon  the 
clergy  of  the  church  of  England.  Pains,  penalties, 
confiscations,  imprisonments,  tortures,  were  all  put 
in  requisition  by  this  atrocious  government  of  church 
and  state,  to  prevent  the  ejected  ministers  from  exer-^ 
cising  their  most  holy  functions  in  a  land  calling  itself 
Christian. 

All  vital    and    experimental   religion    was    decried,'" 
ridiculed,  calumniated,  persecuted ;    and,  so  far  as  the 
king   and  his  state  bishops  coidd  effect  their  purpose, 


214  FASHIONABLE    THEOLOGY. 

England  approximated  to  the  condition  of  tlic  cities  of 
the  plain. 

In  vain  did  Burnet's  philosophical  divines  in  the  es- 
tablished church,  labour  to  stem  the  torrent  of  infideli- 
ty and  licentiousness,  by  studying,  and  recommending 
the  study  of  Plato,  TuUy,  and  Plotin.  Was  this  the 
way  to  promote  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  an  extensive  diffusion  of  Gospel  truth  ? 
These  men,  highly  talented,  and  extensively  learned 
as  they  undoubtedly  were,  instead  of  insisting  upon  the 
necessity  of  the  Holy  Spirit's  influence,  to  enable  us  to 
know  the  things  of  God  ;  urged  the  sufficiency  of  mere, 
unassisted  human  reason,  which,  of  itself,  never  did  and 
never  can  either  k?iow,  or  desire  to  know  and  love  God. 
They  treated  the  operations  of  grace  upon  the  renewed 
heart  as  cant,  and  enthusiasm  ;  or,  at  least,  as  so  in- 
scrutably secret,  as  to  be  entirely  unknown.  But  in 
what  does  an  unknown  operation  in  heart  and  life,  differ 
from  no  operation  at  all  ? 

It  is  to  be  apprehended,  that  from  this  philosophical 
source,  much  of  our  modern,  fashionable,  formal  di- 
vinity is  derived :  a  system  of  divinity  which  boasts  of 
reason  for  its  author,  and  leads  to  a  listless,  undevout, 
unspiritual  life  and  practice,  as  its  legitimate  end  and 
object.  In  the  eighth  volume  of  the  iate  Joseph  Mil- 
ner's  works,  in  "  Gibbon's  account  of  Christianity  con- 
sidered," this  subject  is  well  discussed.  The  whole 
tract  may  be  very  proiitably  perused  ;  especially  the  ad- 
dress to  sceptics,  formalists,  and  believers. 

What  with  unscriptural  preaching,  and  encouraged 
licentiousness,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  the  second,  re- 
ligion received  a  wound  in  England,  which  she  has  not 
yet  recovered.  In  the  established  church,  the  very 
semblance  of  piety  almost  entirely  disappeared  ;  family 
religion  was  very  generally  laid  aside  ;  and  great  num- 
bers, particularly  of  the  higher  ranks,  avowed  them- 
selves open  infidels. 

On  the  accession  of  James  the  second,  his  foolish 
violence   in   favour    of  popery,  drove   the   churchmen 


HKiH    AND    LOW    CHUllCH.  215 

and  the  dissenters  into  a  temporary  political  alliance, 
in  support  of  protestantism.  And  as  soon  as  the  dan- 
ger was  over,  the  state  church  requited  the  aid  of  the 
dissenters,  by  refusing  to  repeal  the  test  and  corpoiri- 
tion  acts,  which  were,  originally,  passed  with  the  con- 
currence of  dissenters,  as  a  safeguard  against  popery, 
and,  certainly,  not  intended  as  a  perpetual  exclusion 
of  conscientious  protestants  from  civil  and  military 
offices. 

At  the  revolution,  in  1688,  the  toleration  act  of 
William  protected  the  dissenters  from  the  tender  mer- 
cies of  the  established  church  ;  as  expressed  in  the  in- 
telligible tones  of  the  five  mile  and  conventicle  acts, 
of  fine,  imprisonment,  transportation,  and  death.  A 
reunion  of  churchmen  and  dissenters  was  earnestly 
endeavoured  by  William,  but  frustrated  by  the  state 
clergy.  Indeed,  such  a  desirable  event  was  rendered 
quite  hopeless,  not  only  by  a  fierce  rcnewal  of  the  dis- 
pute about  forms  of  church  government,  between  c})is- 
copacy  and  presbytcrianism  ;  but  also,  by  the  pre- 
valence of  formalism  in  the  establishment,  and  the 
very  general  departure  of  its  clergy  from  the  evangeli- 
cal doctrines  of  the  articles  of  the  Anglican  Church. 

In  addition  to  which,  the  revolution  gave  birth  to 
another  source  of  quarrel  between  the  state  clergy  them- 
selves; namely,  the  distinction  between  high  and  loiv 
church;  in  which  religion  had  little  or  no  share;  and  which 
produced  a  large  crop  of  political  and  ecclesiastical  con- 
troversy;  and  taught  multitudes  in  tlie  establishment  to 
substitute  churchmanship  for  Christianity  ;  a  doctrine, 
in  which  a  great  body  of  bishops,  priests  and  deacons, 
botli  in  England  and  in  these  United  States,  are,  at 
this  hoiiVy  full  graduates. 

The  toleration  act,  indeed,  secures  the  dissenters 
in  England,  from  the  grosser,  and  more  overt  acts  of 
persecution ;  but  they  still  labour  under  the  proscrip- 
tion of  political  disabilities.  And  notwithstanding  the 
tolerant  and  liberal  character  of  William's  government; 
and   the  labours  of  archbishops  Tillotson  and  Sharpe, 


216  DOCTRINES    OF    GllACE. 

and  other  able  and  well  disposed  men,  evangelical 
religion  declined,  and  formalism  fiourisbed,  in  Eng- 
land, almost  entirely  without  let  or  hindrance,  down 
to  the  year  1738.  The  established  clergy,  if  they 
believed,  certainly  did  not  preach  the  great  leading 
truths  of  the  Gospel,  as  they  are  taught  in  Holy  Writ, 
and  expressly  embodied  in  their  own  articles,  homilies, 
and  liturgy ;  for  example,  the  essential  doctrines  of 
original  sin ;  justification  of  the  sinner  by  faith  alone 
in  the  merits  of  Christ ;  spiritual,  not  baptismal  re- 
generation ;  communion  with  the  Father,  and  with  his 
Son,  Jesus  Christ ;  the  progressive  sanctification  of  the 
Holy  Spirit;  the  assurance  of  the  favour  of  God; 
and  all  those  essential  truths,  known  as  the  doctrines 
qf^race^ 

The  state  clergy  continued  preaching,  living,  and 
acting  against,  and  subscribing,  swearing  to,  and 
reading  the  doctrines  of  the  Anglican  Church.  Evan- 
gelism sounded  irom  the  desk,  and  formalism  from  the 
pulpit,  very  generally,  throughout  the  establishment ;  un- 
til about  the  year  1740,  it  pleased  God  to  cause  a  revival 
of  religion  in  England,  by  the  instrumentality  of  John 
Wesley,  and  George  Whitfield,  and  their  coadjutors 
and  followers. 

At  that  time,  says  Erasmus  Middleton,  a  minister  of 
the  church  of  England,  who  ventured  to  maintain 
her  articles  and  homilies  in  doctrine,  and  who  sup- 
ported them  in  fact,  by  a  holy  practice,  was  a  kind  of 
prodigy,  and  met  witli  nothing  but  censure,  persecu- 
tion, and  hard  names  from  all  ranks  and  sorts  of  men. 
Our  pulpits  resounded  witli  morality,  deduced  from 
the  principles  of  nature,  and  the  fitness  of  things, 
with  no  relation  to  Christ,  or  the  Holy  Ghost :  all 
which  the  heathen  philosophers  have  insisted  on, 
and  perhaps  with  more  than  modern  ingenuity ;  and,  in 
consequence  of  this,  our  streets  have  resounded  with 
iwimorality. 

Dark,  in  very  deed,  and  gloomy,  was  the  condition 
of  England,    at     the  commencement   of  this   revival. 


KEVIVAL    IN    ENGLAND.  21? 

Serious  aiul  practical  Christianity  was  at  its  lowest 
ebb ;  vital  religion,  so  fioiirishing  at,  and  subsequent 
to  the  Reformation,  until  stifled  by  the  established 
church,  under  Laud  and  Sheldon,  was  scarcely 
known.  The  only  thing  insisted  upon,  seemed  to  be 
a  defence  of  the  outworks  of  Christianity,  against  the 
incessant  attacks  of  avowed  infidels.  And  xvhat  was 
the  consequence?  The  writings  of  infidels  multiplied 
daily,  and  infidelity  spread  rapidly  among  ])ersons  of 
every  rank,  not  because  they  were  reasoned  into  it,  by 
force  of  argument ;  but  because  tlie  state  clergy  held 
them  in  entire  ignorance  of  Christ,  and  of  the  power  of 
the  Gospel. 

Hear  bishop  Butler,  a  man  by  no  means  likely  to 
exaggerate  the  actual  state  of  things :  he  says,  in  the 
preface  to  his  immortiil  work  on  "  The  Analogy  of 
Religion,  natural  and  revealed,  to  the  constitution  and 
course  of  Nature,'  written  in  May  1736, — "  it  is  come, 
/  k/iozv  not  how,  to  be  taken  for  granted,  that  Chris- 
tianity is  not  so  much  as  a  subject  of  inquiry  ;  but  that 
it  is  now,  at  length,  discovered  to  be  fictitious;  and, 
accordingly,  they  treat  it  as  if,  in  the  present  age,  this 
was  an  agreed  point  among  all  people  of  discernment ; 
and  nothing  remained  but  to  set  it  up  as  a  principal 
subject  of  mirth  and  ridicule ;  as  it  were,  by  way  of  re- 
prisals for  its  having  so  long  interrupted  the  pleasures 
of  the  world." 

In  proportion  as  Whitfield's  popularity  increased, 
did  his  clerical  brethren  in  the  establishment  op- 
pose and  vilify  him.  Some  of  them  told  him  that  he 
should  not  preach  again  in  their  pulpits,  unless  he 
renounced  that  part  of  the  preface  to  his  sermon  on 
regeneration,  wherein  he  wished  "  that  his  bretliren 
would  entertain  their  auditors  oftener  with  discourses 
upon  the  new  birth."  The  state  clergy  were  also  ex- 
ceedingly angry  at  his  free  conversation  with  seri- 
ous dissenters,  who  often  invited  him  to  their  houses ; 
and  repeatedly  told  him,  that  if  the  doctrines  of  the 
new  birth  and  of  justification  by  faith,  were  preached 


218  ENGLISH    STATE   CLERGV. 

powerfully  in  the  established  church,  there  would  he  few 
dissenters  in  England. 

It  cannot  be  too  often  repeated,  nor  too  deeply- 
considered,  by  those  who  wish  well  to  the  real,  the 
best  interests  of  religion,  and  of  the  protestant  epis- 
copal church ;  that,  from  the  time  Laud  carried  the 
Knglish  establishment  over  from  its  original  Augus- 
tinism,  or  Calvinism,  into  ostensible  Arminianism,  but 
into  real  formalism,  down  to  the  revival  of  religion,  in 
the  reign  of  George  the  second ;  the  established  church 
of  England  languished,  and  other  denominations  mul- 
tiplied upon  her  decline ;  and  irifidelity,  also,  gained 
ground  rapidly,  and  spread  widely  throughout  the 
whole  nation. 

The  Anglican  Church  clergy,  it  must  be  acknow- 
ledged, have,  as  a  body,  since  the  Reformation,  main- 
tained a  high  character  for  talent  and  learning;  and 
have  written  ably  and  well,  upon  every  subject  con- 
nected with  theology ;  from  expounding  and  defend- 
ing the  internal,  the  essential  truths  of  Revelation, 
down  to  the  mere  exterior  of  the  visible  church. 
And,  above  all,  some  eminently  pious,  evangelical 
men  have  been  found  within  her  venerable  pale,  in 
all  ages.  God  has  never  been  left  entirely  without 
witnesses  in  her,  notwithstanding  her  secular  state 
establishment.  She  has  always  had  some  children, 
who  have  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal.  But,  gene- 
rally speaking,  the  leprosy  of  formalism  pervaded  and 
poisoned  the  living  waters  of  that  church,  in  their 
springs,  and  in  their  fountains;  from  the  era  of 
Laud's  apostacy  and  persecution,  until  nearly  the  mid- 
dle of  the  eighteenth  century. 

Since  that  period  the  evangelical  doctrines  of  the 
Anglican  Church,  have  been  faithfully  promulgated 
by  an  increasing  number  of  her  clergy ;  nohvitlistand- 
irig  the  virulent  opposition  of  their  formal  brethren, 
in  the  shape  of  misrepresentation  and  calumny  ;  and 
the  more  substantial  arguments  of  her  formal  bi- 
shops, in  silencing  curates,  and  refusing  to  counter- 
sign   the    testimonials  of  presentees,    that    have   been 


BOLINGKROKE CALVIN.  210 

fomid  guilty  of  preaching  the  Gospel,  and  entorciug 
the  doctrines  of  grace  ;  the  doctrines  of  the  lleforma- 
tion  ;  the  doctrines  of  the  Anglican  articles  and  ho- 
milies. 

The    notorious   infidel    Bolinghroke    was    reading 
Calvin's  Institutes,   when  Mr.  Church,  an  established 
clergyman,  called  upon  him.     "  You  have  caught  me,"' 
said   the   political    patron    of   the   English    establish- 
ment, "  reading  John  Calvin ;   he  was,  indeed,  a  man 
of  great   parts,   profound   sense,    and    vast   learning ; 
he  handles  the  doctrines  of  grace  in  a  very  masterly 
manner."       "Doctrines     of    grace!"     exclaimed     the 
learned  clerk,    "  the    doctrines  of  grace  have   set  all 
mankind  together  by  the  ears."     "  I  am  surprised  to 
hear  you  say  so,"  answered  the  peer,   "  you,  who  pro- 
fess  to    believe    and    to    preach    Christianity.      Those 
doctrines   are  certainly    the    doctrines    of   the  Bible, 
and  // 1  believe  the  Bible,  I  must  believe  them.     And 
let  liie  seriously  tell  you,  that  the  greatest  miracle  in 
the  world  is   the  subsistence  of  Christianity,   and  its 
continued  preservation  as  a  religion,  when  the  preach- 
ing of  it  is  committed  to  the  care  of  such  i^?ichristian 
wretches  as  you." 

At  the  time  of  the  revival  of  religion  in  England, 
towards   the   middle   of  the   eighteenth  century,    the 
state     clergy,     pretty     generally,    conformed    to    the 
world,  in  the  spirit  of  the  world ;  following  its  trifling 
pleasures,   or   immersed   in   its   secular   pursuits.       It 
was  quite  enough  for  them  to  "  do  ministerial  duty,'' 
as  the  phrase  is,  on  a  Sunday  ;  without  attempting  to 
improve  their  own  minds  by  study,   or  to  promote  the 
spiritual  interests    of  the  flocks   they  fleeced.      They 
were  easy  companions  for  easy  men,  who  gave  them- 
selves no  trouble  about  their  own  souls,  or  about  God, 
or  any  thing  else,  but   taking  their  pastime  in   this 
present  world. 

Give  such  men  the  pleasures  of  the  earth  for  a 
season ;  and  the  honour  of  Christ,  and  the  salvation 
of  sinners,  are  subordinate  matters,  which  may  be 
attended  to  at  any,  or  at  no  time,  as  the  case  may  be. 


220  BISHOP    TllELAWNEY. 

It  was  a  great  matter  for  an  established  clerk  to 
emerge  from  the  low  debauchery  of  the  times ;  to 
abstain  from  gross  swearing,  unless  in  suitable  com- 
pany ;  and  to  sleep  oft  a  drunken  frolic,  with  all  due 
decorum.  Is  it  to  promote  piety,  and  prevent  heathen- 
ism, that  a  national  church  establishment  nourishes 
within  her  bosom,  swearing,  drinking,  hunting,  horse- 
racing,  gambling,  ungodly  priests  ? 

An  unlucky  servant  spilled  some  soup  upon  the 
laced  waistcoat  of  Sir  Jonathan  Trelawney,  who  re- 
turned the  compliment,  by  pouring  out  a  volley  of 
oaths  upon  the  culprit.  Observing  one  of  the  com- 
pany stare,  he  smiled,  and  said- — "  1  do  not  swear  as 
the  bishop  of  — ,  but  only  as  Sir  Jonathan  Tre- 
lawney." "  Pray,  my  lord,"  replied  the  gentleman, 
"  if  the  baronet  goes  to  hell,  what  is  to  become  of  the 
bishop  r 

But  where  such  gross  conduct  and  open  profane- 
ness  were  avoided,  what  good  did  the  formal  preach- 
ing of  the  state  clergy  effect?  Mere  morality,  de- 
rived from  man's  own  unassisted  strength,  neither 
comes  from,  nor  goes  to,  the  heart.  With  the  whole 
amount  of  human  efforts,  and  human  attainments,  all 
fallen,  corrupt,  depraved,  feeble,  no  immortal  soul  can 
be  satisfied  or  saved.  It  was  preaching  Jesus  Christ, 
and  Him  crucified,  that  brought  men  out  from  the 
darkness  and  death  of  popery  at  the  Reformation. 
And  it  is  the  only  preaching  that  can,  at  any  time, 
awaken  sinners  to  a  true  sense  of  their  eternal  inte- 
rests. It  is  this  preaching  which  has  drawn,  and  still 
continues  to  draw,  thousands  from  the  English  esta- 
blished church  to  the  worship  and  communion  of  the 
dissenters  ;  and  it  is  this  preaching  alone,  that  can  ever 
again  build  up  the  establishment  in  strength. 

[ntcrniediate  the  complaints  of  bishop  Stillingfleet, 
Dr.  Owen  and  bishop  Butler,  in  the  years  1662, 
1671  and  1736,  respecting  the  infidelity  and  profli- 
gacy of  England,  we  have  similar  lamentations  from 
the   archbishop    of   Canterbury  and    thirteen    bisliops. 


EPISCOPAL    DFX'I.ARATION.  221 

in  their  Declaration  against   tlic  llebellion,  published 
in  the  year  1715. 

These  prelates  affirm,  that  the  chief  hopes  of  the 
enemy  to  succeed  in  the  excited  rebellion,  arose 
from  discontents,  fomented  by  those,  who,  too  much 
valued  by  themselves  and  others  for  their  pretended 
zeal  for  the  Anglican  Church,  had  joined  with  papists 
in  their  nefarious  schemes.  That  members  of  the 
established  church  of  England,  amidst  high  pro- 
fessions of  zeal  for  her  interests,  and  fierce  denun- 
ciations against  all  nonepiscopalians,  and  dissenters, 
should  attempt  to  set  up  a  popish  pretender  for  the 
support  of  that  church,  is  declared  to  be  such  an  ab- 
surdity, as  nothing  but  an  infatuation  from  God,  in- 
flicted' for  their  sins,  could  suffer  to  pass  upon  the 
nation. 

The    infidelity,    hypocrisy,    contention    and    hatred, 
charged  by  this   episcopal  declaration   upon   England, 
are    confirmed    by     every     contemporary    publication, 
which  characterizes  that  period.     The  gall  and  bitter- 
ness,   with   which   the   high  church  tories,  during  the 
reio-ns  of  William  and  Ann,    had  laboured  to  poison 
all  social  intercourse,  and  to  stifle  all  religious  liberty, 
had,  in  the  natural  order  of  things,  produced  a  general 
indifference,    and  infidelity.     The  infidel  writers   were 
so    numerous,    and    so    successful    in    proselyting   the 
higher    classes   of  the   community,    that   many  well- 
meaning    persons    foreboded   the    speedy  extinction   of 
Revelation     in   England.        And     some    years    after- 
wards,   bishop   Butler   told   his   clergy,    in    a  diocesan 
charge,  that    "  the   influence  of  religion  is   more  and 
more  wearing  out  of  the  minds   of  men ;   the  number 
of  those,    wlio   avow  themselves  unbelievers,    increase, 
and    with    their   numbers,  tlieir  zeal.       The    deplora- 
ble  distinction  of  02ir  age,  is   an    avowed  scorn  of  re- 
ligion in   some,  and  a  growing  disregard  to  it  in  tlie 
generality." 

And   no  wonder ;    seeing  that  the  strain  of  preach- 
ing in  the  Ensrlish  church    establishment   had   been. 


222  CHURCH    KVANGELICALS. 

for  a  long  time,  almost  entirely  formal.  It  was,  indeed, 
less  bigoted,  and  less  popish,  than  the  sermonizing  so 
much  in  fashion  during  the  last  years  of  Ann  ;  for  the 
people  of  England  were  sick,  to  the  loathing,  of  ex- 
clusive churchmanship,  and  the  indispensable  necessity 
of  episcopal  baptism  to  eternal  sah  ation.  But  a  cold, 
heartless,  ethical  strain,  excluding  the  peculiar  doc- 
trines of  the  Gospel,  characterized  the  discourses  of  tlic 
state  clergy.  Of  this  style  of  preaching  bishop  Butler's 
own  sermons  are  a  finished  specimen ;  and  helped  to 
promote  that  very  infidelity,  which  he  so  pathetically 
lamented. 

The  only  counterbalance  to  this  awful  state  of  things 
was,  the  new  spirit  excited  among  some  of  the  state  cler- 
gy ;  a  spirit  which  the  secular  and  ecclesiastical  rulers 
of  the  Anglican  Church  have  always  laboured,  and  are 
now  labouring,  to  suppress  and  to  extinguish.  These 
evangelical  clergy  are  persecuted,  because  they  think 
that  the  marks  of  a  true  churchman  are  rather  to  be 
found  in  a  vital  belief  of  the  truly  Scriptiu-al  doctrines 
of  the  Anglican  Church ;  than  in  proclaiming,  that 
eternal  life  is  exclusively  confined  to  those  who  profess 
an  outward  comformity  to  the  rites,  and  ceremonies, 
and  discipline,  and  government  of  that  church. 

They  are  reproached  as  intruders,  who  disturb  the 
formal,  sepulchral  peace  of  the  establishment,  which 
had  been  uninterrupted  from  Bartholomew  day,  till  the 
rise  of  Whitfield  and  Wesley,  and  their  associates.  But 
taking  their  stand  upon  the  Bible,  and  the  liturgy, 
articles  and  homilies  of  the  Anglican  Church,  these 
evangelicals  have,  as  yet,  withstood  all  the  efforts  of 
the  formalists  to  extinguish  them  ;  and  have  hitherto 
gradually,  though  slowly,  increased  in  number.  How 
far  they  will  be  able  to  surmount  the  7ieWy  and  more 
systematic,  and  better  concerted  schemes  for  their  de- 
struction, 710W  putting  in  operation  by  the  secular 
government,  and  the  established  hierarchy  of  England, 
the  event  alone  can  determine. 

The  serious  part  of  the  English  people,  even  among 


CHURCH    DESrOTISM.  223 

the  dissenters,  who  are  hostile  to  all  church  ami  state 
cstahlishinents,  but  who  love  their  country,  and 
know  that  her  well-being  essentially  depends  upon 
the  diffusion  of  evangelical  reliijion  througliout  the 
community,  rejoice  to  find  the  Gospel  faithfully  pro- 
claimed in  those  pulpits,  from  which  it  had  been  almost 
entirely  banished,  ever  since  the  ejection  of  the  non- 
conformists. 

But  it  is  doubtful,  if  those  pulpits  will  not  be  again 
restored  to  the  death-sleep  of  formalism  ;  seeing  that  by 
a  clause  in  an  act  of  parliament,  ostensibly  passed  for 
another  purpose,  the  constitution  of  the  church  of 
England  has  been  erected  into  an  absolute  despotism ; 
and  all  the  unbeneficed  clergy  in  the  establishment  are 
subjected  to  the  arbitrary,  unresponsible  dominion  of  the 
bishops. 

Under  such  circumstances  we   cannot   marvel,   that 
evangelism  makes   but  slow  progress  in  the  Anglican 
Church.     So  lately  as  the  year  1795,  John  Newton 
wrote  thus,    "  the   times   are   dark,  but,   perhaps,   they 
were  darker  in  England  sixty  years  ago,  (17.i5,)  when, 
though    we    had  peace    and  plenty,    the   bulk   of  the 
kingdom  lay  under  the  judgment  of  an  unregeneratc 
ministry,    and  the  people    were    perishing   for  lack  of 
knowledge.     In  this  respect  the  times  are  better  than 
they  were.     The   Gospel  is   preached  in  many  parts ; 
we  have  it  plentifully  in  London  ;  and   many  of  our 
great  towns,   which  were  once  sitting  in  darkness,  have 
now  the   true  light.     Some  of  these  places   were  as  a 
wilderness  in   my  remembrance ;    and    now  they  are  as 
gardens  of  the  Lord.     And  every  year   the  Gospel  is 
planted  in   new  places;    ministers  are   still  rising  up, 
the  work  is  still  spreading.      I  am  not  sure,  that  in  the 
year  1740,  there  was  a   single  parochial  minister,  Vviio 
was  publicly  known  as  a  Gospel  minister,  in  the  whole 
kingdom.     Now  wc   have,   I  think,  not  less  ihsLnfour 
hujidrcd." 

In    another    letter,   written   in    1801,    INIr.   Newton 
speaks  of  the  state  of  religion  in  the  church  establisli- 


224  SCOTTISH    EPISCOPACY. 

meiit,  at  the  commencement  of  the  present  century ; 
"  I  ani  told  there  are  ten  thousand  parishes  in  England  ; 
I  helieve  more  than  nine  thousand  of  tliese  are  destitute 
of  the  Gospel.'"  Thus,  according  to  the  calculations  of 
this  eminently  pious  man,  not  a  tenth  part  of  the 
establislied  church  could  hear  the  Gospel  preached 
within  its  walls,  only  twenty  years  since  ;  and  the  number 
of  her  evangelical  clergy,  at  that  period,  did  not  amount 
to  one  half  of  those  driven  out  on  the  24th  of  August, 
1662.  Such  are  the  blessings  of  a  formal,  secular 
church  establishment ! 

In  his  correspondence  with  a  friend  in  Scotland, 
including  a  period  from  1778  to  17H4,  IMr.  Newton 
enters  more  into  detail  upon  this  important  subject. 
In  the  year  1778,  his  friend  wrote  to  him,  saying,  "  as 
to  the  aversion  to  episcopacy,  common  among  reli- 
gious people  here,  especially  seceders,  I  cannot  say 
but  they  often  carry  it  too  far.  But  let  it  be  consi- 
dered xvhat  sort  of  an  episcopacy  the  Scots  got  a 
taste  of  in  the  last  century.  How  much  blood  was 
shed ;  wliat  dreadful  tyranny  was  used  to  introduce 
and  establish  it ;  what  profligate  lives  did  both  the 
bishops  and  lower  clergy  lead,  and  how  bloody  were 
they  ! 

"  With  pleasure,  I  except  my  favourite  Leighton, 
who  never  could  enter  into  the  views  of  his  bre- 
thren. He  bore  with  them,  he  prayed  for  them,  and, 
at  length,  left  them.  The  west  of  Scotland  is  stored 
with  marks  of  prelatic  vengeance.  I  know  many 
good  and  worthy  men  in  the  church  of  England 
abhor  these  cruelties  as  much  as  we  can  do  ;  but  it  is 
hard  to  bring  the  common  people  liere  to  think  so. 
The  account  of  our  trading  people,  when  they  re- 
turn from  England,  helps  to  keep  up  the  aversion. 
They  bring  down  but  sorry  enough  accounts  of  the 
lower  order  of  the  clergy  there.  Now,  to  hear  of  a 
drunken  clergyman,  or  one  accustomed  to  swearings 
appears,  as  it  really  is,  a  terrible  thing,  to  our  people. 
Though  many  of  our  corrupt  clergy  here,  are 
very    far  from    adorning    tlie    Gospel    by    their    walk 


.ITT  HANTS — NONJIHAXTS.  22.) 

and    practice,    yet    they    geiieially    preserve    outward 
deceiicv. 

"  The  episcopals  still  among  us,  are  far  from  en- 
dearing the  scheme  or  party  to  us.  We  have  sonie 
meetings  of  them  in  our  trading  towns.  They  are 
divided  into  jurants,  and  nonjurants.  The  jurants 
qualify  to  the  government,  and  are  on  the  same  footing 
with  episcopals  in  England.  The  nonjurants,  wlio 
will  not  qualify,  are  avowed  friends  to  tlie  wicked  old 
cause  of  the  pretender.  They  are  rank  Arminians,  if 
not  Socinians.  They  have  little  learning,  and  less 
holiness.  Providence  seems  to  be  working  ruin  to  their 
scheme  very  fast." 

This,  it  must  be  confessed,  is  a  somewhat  scurvy 
jucture  of  Scottish  episcopacy,  drawn  by  the  hand  of  a 
Scottish  scceder;  and  it  is  but  just  to  present  a  more 
favourable  portrait  of  the  same  subject,  by  an  English 
churchman. 

Mr.  Middleton,  in  his  Decades,  from  1780  to  1790, 
says:  the  nonjuring  bishops  of  Scotland,  to  whom 
Dr.  Seabury,  of  America,  had  recourse,  were  them- 
selves objects  of  sympathy  to  all  those  who,  dispos- 
ed to  grant  that  a  ibrm  of  church  government  was 
not  laid  down,  in  so  many  words,  in  holy  writ,  yet 
could  not  allow  that  men,  under  ani)  circumstances, 
were  justified  in  departing  from  the  primitive  an(i 
apostolic  model.  With  respect,  therefore,  to  North  Bii- 
tain,  though  presbyterianism  was  there  estuhllshed,  they 
did  not  regard  the  Scottish  episcopalians  as  dissenters ; 
but  rather,  jis  that  peculiar  body,  which,  in  fact,  con- 
stituted the  church,  stripped  of  its  former  appendages 
of  rank  and  emolument. 

In  consequence  of  the  proceedings  of  the  conven- 
tion of  estates,  which  conveyed  the  crown  to  AVil- 
liam  and  Mary,  and  of  the  subsequent  act  of  the 
Scottish  parliament,  wliich  substituted  presbytery  for 
episcopacy,  two  archbishops  and  twelve  bishops,  with 
nine  hundred  clergymen,  rcfusiiig  to  submit  to  the 
new  government,  were  ejected  from  their  sees  and  bene- 
fices.    Notwithstanding  some  severe  penal  laws   i)assed 

Q 


226  THEIR    REUNION. 

against  them,  a  state  church  ])eing  always  prone  to 
inflict  penalties  upon  dissidents,  the  episcopal  clergy 
continued  to  officiate  privately  to  such  as  inclined  to 
attend  upon  their  ministrations ;  while  the  bishops 
preserved  the  succession  of  their  order  by  new  and 
regular  consecrations. 

In  the  course  of  years,  their  number  considerably 
diminished ;  but,  as  ecclesiastics,  they  cor.ductcd 
themselves  in  a  praiseworthy  manner,  performing 
their  functions  in  private  apartments,  subsisting  on 
the  miserable  pittance  furnished  by  their  peo])le,  and 
generally  abstaining  from  interference  in  political 
disputes.  They  did  not  ])ray  for  the  king  of  Kngland 
by  name,  but  they  held  no  connexion  with  the  exiled 
royal  family;  though,  as  an  affair  of  conscience,  they 
admitted  the  claim  of  the  Stuarts,  and  called  the 
pretender,  prince  Charles.  The  death  of  the  last 
Stuart  claimant  to  the  British  throne,  in  1788,  ena- 
bled them  to  pray  for  (George  the  third  in  their  reli- 
gious meetings.  Their  tender  of  loyalty  was  well 
received  ;  and  hopes  were  given  from  some  of  the 
state  officers,  tliat  the  penal  enactments  would  be 
removed. 

Accordingly,  three  of  the  bishops.  Skinner,  Drum- 
mond,  and  Strachan,  went  to  I^ondon  in  April  1789, 
to  obtain  relief,  A  bill  passed  the  house  of  com- 
mons unanimously  in  their  favour,  secretary  IJundas 
being  their  advocate ;  but  it  was  lost  in  the  house 
of  lords,  by  the  opposition  of  chancellor  Tluirlow. 
Upon  this,  the  reverend  JDr.  Gaskin,  secretary  to  the 
society  for  promoting  Christian  Knowledge ;  Mr.  Ste- 
vens, treasurer  of  queen  Ann's  bounty,  and  Mr.  (now 
judge)  Park,  formed  themselves  into  a  committee  of 
management ;  and,  in  consequence  of  their  effi)rts, 
supported  by  the  Anglican  ejnscopate,  es})ecially  bishops 
Home  and  Horsley,  the  bill  ior  relief  passed  into  a  law, 
June  11th,  1792. 

The  next  attempt  was  to  promote  ecclesiastical 
unity,  which  had  been  much  violated.  Laymen, 
fearing  to  incur  penalties  by  attending   the  nonjuring 


CHUKCH    OIJDK.K.  227  ■ 

elcMgy,  iiad  frequented  chapels,  served  by  minister/ 
oidaiiicd  in  the  English  and  Irish  churches,  which 
did  not  acknowledge  the  Scottish  bishops.  In  this  : 
predicament,  their  ])laces  of  worship  were  unconse- 
crated,  and  their  children  unconfirmed  ;  while  their 
character  was  anomalous,  and  virtually  scliismatical. 
The  bishops  addressed  a  public  exhortation  to  the 
English  and  Irish  clergy,  to  join  their  communion. 
In  October  1S04,  the  "bishops  held  a  convocation, 
which  unanimously  resolved,  that  subscrij)tion  to 
thirty-nine  articles,  similar  to  tliose  of  the  church 
of  England,  should  be  required  of  candidates  for 
ordination.  In  consequence,  nearly  all  the  clergy 
submitted  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  episcopal  col- 
lege. 

In  order  to  enlarge  the  narrow  incomes  of  the  bi- 
shops, and  poorest  of  the  inferior  clergy,  coiiections 
were  made  in  Scotland  and  in  England ;  the  result 
of  which  has  been  the  allowance  of  100/.  per  annum 
to  the  bishops  residing  in  Edinburgh,  b'O/.  to  the  pri- 
mus, and  50/.  to  each  of  the  other  bishops ;  besides 
some  small  stipend  to  a  few  of  the  presbyters,  A 
very  primitive  contrast  this,  to  the  princely  revenues, 
the  untold  thousands,  poured  annually  into  the  laps 
of  the  incuniljcnt  prelates  of  Canterbury,  Durham, 
Winchester  ;  and,  indeed,  of  the;  great  proportion,  boili  ^ 
of  English  and  Irish  bishops ;  as  well  as  of  other  dig-  ^ 
nitaries,  and  beneficed  clerks,  in  the  united  church  of 
England  and  Ireland. 

In  answer  to  his  Scottish  seceding  friend,  Mr. 
Newton  says :  I  do  not  wonder  that  prelacy  appears 
in  a  very  unfavourable  light  in  Scotland,  as  the  prin- 
cipal characters  who  laboured  to  settle  it  there,  and 
the  general  strain  of  their  conduct,  would  have  dis- 
paraged tlie  cause  of  truth  itself  And  even  at  pre- 
sent, the  general  appearance  of  the  church  of  Eng- 
land can  have  nothing  in  it  very  inviting  to  spiritual 
persons,  who  have  not  acquired  some  previous  good 
will  to  it  by  education.  Eut,  I  believe,  this  is  not 
owino;  to  its  outward  form,  but  to  the  xvant  of  the  Gos- 

-       Q  2 


228  MU.    HF.RVEY. 

pel,  and  to  the  absence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  whose  in- 
fluences are  only  found  concurring  with  the  declaration 
of  liis  own  truth. 

I    believe    if  all   our  bishops    were    such    men    as 
Lei<5"hton    and   Bedel,  and  all  our  parochial  ministers 
cuperhnental  preachers  of  the  grace  of  God,  the  con- 
stitution  of  the  church  would   no  tvay  interfere  with 
the   general    edification    of   the   people;    and    'without 
the  influence  of  the   good    Spirit,  and   ministers  filled 
with    faith    and  grace, -it    signifies   little,  whether   the 
outward    administrations    of    church     matters    be    in 
the    hands    of  bishops,    or    synods,    or    general  assem- 
blies.      The   Jewish    church  service  was  formed   upon 
a  confessedly   Divine  institution  ;  the  place,  the  tem- 
ple,   the    seasons,    the   sacrifices,    the  priesthood,   were 
all,   by  express   direction,  from   the  Lord.      But  wlien 
thev  lost  sight   of  spirituality,  and  rested  in  oMtward 
services,  in  vain  tlicy  said,  the  temple   of  the  I^ord  are 
we ;     when     tlie     l^ord    of   the    temple    had    forsaken 
them,   and  declared    himself  displeased   with   his   own 
appointments. 

In  a  letter,  written  in  July  1778,  ]Mr.  Newton  says: 
I  believe  there  has  not  been  a  Gospel  sermon 
preached  at  Weston  Favel  since  Mr.  Hervey's 
death  ;  nor  can  I  hear  that  there  is  one  spiritual  per- 
son in  the  parish.  His  other  parish  of  Collingtree 
is  likewise  now  a  dark  place  ;  though  there  may  l>e 
half  a  dozen  people  there,  who  know  something  of 
the  Lord.  I  preached  twice  a  year  at  Collingtree, 
for  about  ten  years,  but  I  am  now  quite  shut  out. 
Mr.  Hervey's  usefulness  was  chiefly  in  his  writings. 
A  few  people  in  the  neighbourhood  ])rofited  by  him, 
who,  since  his  death,  have  mostly  joined  the  dissent- 
ers ;  but  he  never  knew  that  one  soul  was  awakened 
in  the  parish  where  he  lived,  though  he  was,  in  every 
respect,  one  of  the  greatest  preachers  of  the  age. 
As  plain  in  his  pulpit  service,  as  florid  in  his  writ- 
ings. The  Lord  showed  in  him,  that  the  work  is  all 
his  own,  and  that  the  best  instrument  can  do  no  more 


SECTARIAN    BIGOTRY.  229 

than  he  appoints  His  own  mother  and  sister  lived 
with  him  ;  his  temper  was  heavenly,  his  conversation 
always  spiritual  and  instructive ;  yet  he  could  make  no 
impression  upon  them,  living  or  dying. 

I  did  not  suppose  that  the  seceders,  or  any  other 
spiritual  people,  confined  the  church  of  Christ  within 
their  onm  pale,  hy  express  or  positive  declaration  ; 
but  I  thought  the  seceders  made  a  point  of  having  as 
little  communication  as  possible,  in  spirituals,  beyond 
their  pale.  Indeed,  I  believe  all  denominations,  as 
such,  abound  with,  bigotry  in  favour  of  their  own  side ; 
and  that  the  ministers  and  private  Christians  in  each, 
are  more  or  less  freed  from  it,  in  proportion  as  they 
arefavoured  with  more  of  the  unction  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  as  they  have  more  opportunities  of  observing  his 
work  carried  ou  amongst  other  parties.  And,  per- 
haps, the  most  catholic-minded  Christian  upon  earth 
has  more  bigotry  in  him  than  he. is  aware  of 

To  esteem  all  modes  and  forms  of  worship  as  equally 
agreeable  to  the  Scriptures,  or  conducive  to  edification  ; 
or  all  difference  of  sentiment  amongst  those  who  hold 
the  head,  to  be  of  no  real  importance,  is  quite  a  dif- 
ferent thing.  We  have  a  right  to  judge  and  act  for 
ourselves,  and  to  follovv  the  light  we  have  received  ; 
and  are  only  blameable  when  we  censure  or  dislike 
others,  because  they  do  not  exactly  see  with  our  eyes, 
in  matters  not  essential. 

In  another  letter,  written  soon  after,  Mr.  Newton 
says  :  this  county  of  Leicester  was,  seven  years  ago, 
a  very  dark  land.  But  the  Lord  has  since  caused  tiie 
light  of  his  Gospel  to  shine  at  Leicester,  here,  and 
in  three  or  four  other  towns.  He  ])laced  Mr.  Robinson 
at  Ijcicester,  a  young  man  of  Cambridge,  whom  he 
furnished  with  abilities,  zeal,  and  meekness,  suitable 
to  the  station.  For,  as  he  was  only  curate  at  first, 
it  seemed  no  easy  matter  so  to  obviate  the  prejudices  of 
an  ignorant  and  numerous  people,  as  to  be  able  to 
maintain  his  standing  ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  be  faith- 
ful to  their  souls.     But  the  Lord  was  with   him,  and 


230  FOIJCE    OF    TIUTTH. 

tlievelbre  he  prospered.  And  the  Lord  has  since  fixed 
him,  and  given  him  one  of  the  five  churches  there 
for  his  own.  He  has  been,  and  is.  very  useful; 
preaches  to  large  congregations,  and  many  people  are 
turned  from  darkness  to  light,  and  walk  worthy  of  the 
Gospel. 

Humanly  speaking,  if  the  act  of  parliament  giving 
the  English  bishops  power  of  summary  and  unresponsi- 
ble suspenison,  had  been  passed  while  Mr.  Robinson 
was  only  curate  at  Leicester,  he  would  have  been  soon 
silenced ;  seeing,  that  since  the  enactment  of  that  im- 
famous  law,  many  less  ])oweriul  foes  to  formalism  and 
irreligion,  than  Mr.  Robinson,  have  been  driven  out 
of  the  diocese  of  Lincoln,  for  the  offence  of  being  zeal- 
ous Gospel  preachers,  and  faithful  parish  priests.  Mr. 
Vaughaa  has  written  a  very  interesting  account  of  the 
exemplary  life,  and  spiritual  labours,  of  ^Ir.  Robin- 
son. 

Mr.  Newton  likewise  mentions  Dr.  Ford,  as  an 
evangelical  churchman.  He  was  intimate  with  the  late 
archuishop  of  Canterbury,  and  on  the  high  road  to 
clerical  honours.  But  when  the  Lord  revealed  his 
Gospel  to  him,  and  gave  him  a  thirst  for  the  good  of 
souls,  those  who  thought  to  promote  him  were  offended. 
He  expects  to  live  and  die  vicar  of  Melton  Mowbray. 
But  he  has  a  higher  honour  than  the  world  can  give  ; 
that  of  winning  souls  for  Christ. 

Speaking  of  himself  and  his  removal  to  I^ondon,  Mr. 
Newton  says  :  it  is  a  time  of  trial  at  Olney,  but  it  is 
needed.  1  had  provided  a  minister  to  succeed  me,  but 
the  people  were  infatuated  to  refuse  him  ;  though  they 
knew,  and  could  not  but  respect  him.  Now  they  wish 
for  him,  but  it  is  too  late.  His  name  is  Scott,  a 
neighbouring  curate,  whom  the  Lord  was  pleased  to 
call  and  teach  himself.  The  narrative  of  his  conver- 
sion, called  The  Force  of  Truth,  is,  in  my  judg- 
ment, one  of  the  clearest,  most  striking,  and  satis- 
factory accounts  of  a  supernatural  change,  that  has  ap- 
peared in  print  at  any  time. 

I  am  wonderfully   at  peace  in   my  new   settlement. 


ROBINSON NEWTON.  231 

JNIy  lecture  on  the  Lord's  day  evening  is  much  crowded. 
My  dispensation,  likewise,  seems  to  be  peace.  JNIy 
congregation  is  made  up  from  various  and  discordant  par- 
ties ;  who,  in  the  midst  of  differences,  can  agree  in  one 
point,  to  hear  patiently  a  man  who  is  oi  no  party.  I 
say  little  to  my  hearers  of  the  things  wherein  they  dif 
fer ;  but  aim  to  lead  them  all  to  a  growing  and  more  expe- 
rimental knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  a  life  of  faith 
in  liim.  The  physician's  business  is  with  the  body  itself, 
how  to  preserve  or  to  restore  health.  The  care  of  the 
dress,  the  knowledge  of  the  fashions,  a  skilful  con- 
trivance about  the  size,  shape,  or  colour  of  the  coat,  is 
the  business  of  the  tailor.  But  I  cannot  submit  to  be 
a  tailor  in  divinity.  If  1  see  my  patients  thriving  in 
the  power  of  godliness,  I  leave  them  to  the  Lord,  and 
tlieir  own  consciences,  as  to  the  form. 

In  February  1781,  Mr.  Newton  says:  as  to  the 
state  of  religion  in  this  city,  London,  there  are  in  the 
estdhlishnient  but  tico  Gospel  ministers,  with  churches 
of  their  own  ;  Mr.  llomaine  and  myself.  But  we  have 
about  ten  clergymen,  who,  either  as  morning  preaclicrs 
or  lecturers,  prea'ch  either  on  the  Lord's  (hiy,  or  at 
different  times  of  the  week,  in  perhaps  fifteen  or  six- 
teen churclies.  The  tabernacle  and  Tottenham-court 
chapel  are  very  large,  and  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Wljit- 
field's  trustees.  In  tliem,  the  Gospel  is  dispensed  to 
many  thousands  of  tlie  people  by  a  diversity  of  ministers, 
clergy,  dissenters,  or  lay  preachers,  who  are,  in  general, 
lively,  faithful,  and  acceptable  men. 

There  is  likewise  the  Lock,  and  another  chapel  in 
Westminster,  served  by  Mr.  De  Coetlegen,  and  Mr. 
Pockwell  ;  both  well  attended.  And  so  is  lady  Hun- 
tingdon's chapel,  which  will  hold  about  two  thousand, 
and  is  supplied  by  able  ministers.  There  is  another, 
not  so  large,  in  the  same  connexion.  Mr.  Wesley  has 
one  large,  and  several  smaller  chapels ;  and  though 
they  are  Arminians,  there  are  many  excellent  Chris- 
tians, and  some  good  preachers  among  them.  There 
are,  likewise,  several  preachers  of  the  methodist  stock, 
not     connected   with    any    of  the   dissenting   boards. 


232  l,ONDON    RELIGION. 

The  chiirclics,  chapels,  &c.  open  on  the  Lords  day  for 
the  methodists,  as  distinct  from  dissenters,  will  con- 
tain thirty  tlionsand  people,  and  are  generally  all 
crowded. 

Among  the  dissenters,  the  presbyterians,  excepting 
a  few  Scottish  churches,  have  deviated  widely  from 
the  way  of  tlieir  forefathers.  Their  ministers  are, 
some  of  them,  men  of  learning  and  abilities ;  but 
very  few  preach  the  doctrines  of  the  Cross.  Their 
auditories  are  rather  polite  and  elegant,  than  nume- 
rous ;  and  their  profession  of  religion  not  very  strict. 
Kxperience  and  observation  prove,  that  no  doctrine 
but  Jesus  Christ  and  liim  crucified,  will  turn  the 
stream  of  the  heart,  or  withstand  the  stream  of  the 
world. 

The  baptists  are  general  and  particular ;  the 
latter  is  the  larger  and  sounder  part.  They  are  a 
respectable  people,  have  many  good  ministers,  and 
are  tenacious  of  the  truth.  Tliey  are,  I  think,  over 
zealous  about  the  point  of  baptism  ;  and  their  num- 
bers are  more  increased  by  proselytes  from  other  de- 
nominations, than  by  conversion  under  their  own 
})reachers. 

Tlie  independents,  for  the  most  ])art,  retain  a  form 
of  sound  words  ;  though  some  ap])car  verging  to  a  de- 
clension in  doctrine.  The  life  and  glory,  I  apprehend, 
is  abated  among  tticm  as  a  body.  Some  of  tlieir  sound, 
judicious,  able  preachers  are  poorly  attended  ;  and  con- 
formity to  the  world  seems  growing  among  these  non- 
conformists. We  have,  further,  in  London,  and  in 
some  other  places,  settlements  of  Moravians ;  than 
whom  I  know  not  a  more  excellent,  spiritual,  evangeli- 
cal people. 

These  are  my  thoughts  on  the  Lord's  floor  in  this 
city.  In  the  great  abounding  of  profession,  too  many, 
doubtless,  bear  no  nearer  relation  to  the  true  church, 
than  the  chaff  to  the  wheat ;  but  1  hope  the  nuniber 
of  solid,  exem})lary  believers  is  very  considerable ; 
and  I  iiope  tlie  Lord's  work  is  growing  and  s})rcad- 
ing,  both    in   city  and  country.      Every    year   adds   to 


PROTEiST.VNT    ASSOCIATION.  2^J3 

the  iiiuiiber  of  evangelical  clergymen,  and  the  Lord 
still  maintains  a  succession  of  promising  young  men  in 
both  the  universities  ;  some  of  whom  are  ordained  every 
season  ;  vet  the  number  of  serious  students  is  still  kept 
up  by  others,  whose  hearts  he  incliries  to  devote  them- 
selves to  sanctuary  service. 

This  is  almost  the  only  encouraging  sign  we  have  in 
this  dark  and  awful  day  ;  and  it  does  encourage  me  to 
hope,  that,  sinful  as  we  are,  the  Lord  will  not  give  us 
up  to  the  will  of  our  enemies;  because  he  has  a  remnant, 
and  a  work  amongst  us. 

What  proportion  the  papists  bear  to  other  dissent- 
ers, 1  know  not ;  but  we  are  more  in  danger  of  being 
overrun  with  infidelity  than  popery.  Nor  do  I  be- 
lieve that  the  papists  are  remarkably  increased.  I 
am  no  friend  to  popish  errors,  but  could  not,  in  con- 
science, join  the  protestant  assocudion.  I  did  not  wish 
for  the  act  in  favour  of  the  papists ;  I  thought  it 
granted  too  much.  But  when  it  had  passed,  I  could 
not  join  in  the  petition  for  a  total  repeal,  and  to  bring 
back  all  former  penalties.  The  first  movers  of  the 
association  were  mostly  my  friends.  They  acted, 
doubtless,  conscientiously,  but  were  mistaken  in  their 
principles. 

I  think  the  papists  should  be  restrained  from  teach- 
ing the  children  of  protestants.  But  they  have  as 
good  a  right  to  judge  for  themselves,  and  to  educate 
their  own  children  as  I  have.  Our  Lord's  kingdom 
is  not  of  this  world,  and  his  subjects  have  no  warrant 
from  his  word  to  inflict  pains  and  penalties  upon  any 
people,  in  matters  pertaining  to  conscience ;  of 
which  he  alone  is  the  Lord  and  Judge.  The  protest- 
ant association,  when  it  became  popular,  was  adopted 
by  thousands,  whose  whole  religion  consisted  in  a  cry 
against  popery.  It  sounded  in  my  ears  like  the  old 
cry,  Mt7"A>?  i  Apninc,  and,  at  length,  issued  in  those  hor- 
rible riots,  which  will  leave  a  lasting  stain  upon  our 
history. 

The  better  part  of  the  association  abhorred  those 
outrages  ;   but  though    they  had  no  such  design,  they 


234  SPIRIT    OF    POPKllY. 

})ioved  the  occasion.  And  thongh  they  meant  well, 
I  consider  the  event  as  a  token  of  the  Lord's  disa])- 
prohation  of  the  methods  they  took.  It  seemed  as  if 
giving  the  papists  more  liberty,  was  the  only  sin  of  the 
nation  ;  the  only  evil  that  called  for  rediess.  There 
was  no  association  formed,  nor  ])etition  thonght  of, 
for  the  snppression  of  the  abominable  profanation 
of  the  Lord's  day,  of  adultery,  drunkenness,  pro- 
faneness,  or  perjury ;  no  apprehension  entertained  of 
those  evils,  wliich,  thongh  ahtiost  universal  among 
us,  would  not  have  been  suffered  in  the  better  days 
of  pagan  Rome.  But  allowing  liberty  to  papists 
appeared  the  chief  thing  ;  the  one  thing  to  be  com- 
plained of,  and  guarded  against.  I  did  not  wonder 
at  the  issue.  The  Lord  will  pour  contempt  upon  a 
spirit  of  intolercmce,  even  when  manifested  by  his  own 
])eople. 

And  in  a  subsequent  letter,  recurring  to  this  subject, 
he  says :  I  am  such  an  enemy  to  popery,  tliat  I  dislike 
it,  even  in  a  protestant  form  ;  and  a/l  parties  of  pro- 
testants  are  more  or  less  infected  with  it.  If  1  claim 
the  liberty  of  seeing  with  my  own  eyes,  I  speak  like  a 
protestant  ;  if  I  expect  others  to  see  with  my  eyes,  or 
wisli  to  ])unish,  or  despise  them,  if  they  do  not,  I  sv 
far  act  in  the  spirit  of  po))ery.  I  do  not  wish  to  see 
popery  prevail  in  Kngland,  but  it  is  a  judgment  we  well 
deserve. 

As  a  Christian,  1  am  not  called  to  prevent  the 
growth  of  popery,  any  other  way,  than  by  preaching  tlie 
trutli,  by  prayer,  and  by  a  Gospel  conversation.  As  to 
what  can  be  done  by  edicts  and  penalties,  let  the  dead 
bury  their  dead ;  1  leave  it  to  the  men  of  the  world, 
who  can  see  no  ot/icr  walls  or  bulwarks  for  the  security 
of  the  church  of  Christ,  than  such  as  they  are  able  to 
build  themselves.  I  dare  not  look  to  any  protection, 
but  that  of  God.  I  have  nothing  to  do  with  an  arm 
of  flesh  in  this  business.  At  present,  I  must  own,  that 
infidelity,  and.  contempt  of  God,  appear  to  me  more 
terrible,  more  upon  the  increase,  and  more  likely  to  be 


CHUllCH  lUGOTUY.  235 

our  ruin,  than  popery.  If  there  was  not  a  papist  in 
the  kingdom,  1  should  still  fear  we  are  almost  ripe  for 
destruction. 

How  it  is  in  Scotland,  I  know  not ;  hut  I  believe 
most  of  the  loudest,  in  Eng-land,  against  popery,  had 
little  more  regard  for  the  true  Gospel  than  the  papists 
themselves.  And  though  some  good  persons  were 
among  them,  the  majority  of  serious  people  were  quiet 
in  their  tents,  and  more  taken  up  with  mourning  over 
the  general  prevalence  of  sin,  than  with  the  liberty 
granted  to  the  papists. 

In  March  1783,  My.  Newton,  in  reference  to  the 
narrow  spirit  of  sectarianism,  asks  the  same  corre- 
spondent :  Is  it  not  strange,  that,  when  wo  profess  to 
receive  the  New  Testament  as  our  rule,  and  to  form  our 
plans  upon  it,  some  of  the  plainest  and  most  obvious 
precepts  should  be  so  generally  overlooked  ?  How 
plain  is  that  in  Rom.  xv.  7  !  Now  how  does  Christ  re- 
ceive us  ?  Does  he  wait  till  we  are  all  exactly  of  a 
mind  ?  does  he  confine  Iris  regards,  his  grace,  his 
presence,  within  the  walls  of  a  party  ?  is  he  the  God 
of  the  presbyterians,  or  the  independents  only  ?  do  not 
some  amongst  you,  and  some  amongst  us,  know,  with 
equal  certainty,  that  he  has  received  them  ?  Do 
not  they,  and  do  not  we,  know  what  it  is  to  taste  that 
he  is  gracious  ?  does  he  not  smile  upon  your  ordinances, 
and  upon  ours  ?  are  not  the  fruits  of  faith  tlie  same, 
on  both  sides  of  the  Tweed,  and  in  every  corner  of  the 
land? 

And  shall  zeal  presume  to  come  in,  with  its  ifs  and 
its  huts,  and  to  build  up  walls  of  separation  between 
those  who  are  joined  to  the  Lord  by  one  spirit ;  in 
direct  contradiction  to  the  tenor  of  the  whole  Rom. 
xiv.  ;  and  think  it  has  a  right  to  despise  and  censure, 
to  judge  and  condemn,  when  it  is  expressly  forbidden 
to  interfere  ?  The  Lord,  by  his  apostle,  says :  let 
every  one  be  persuaded  in  his  own  mind  ;  and  how 
dares  zeal  say  otherwise  ?  Yet  many  true  believers 
are  so  much    under  the  spirit   of   self   and  prejudice. 


2ri6  GENERAL    PROFLIGACY. 

that  they  verily  mean  to  do  the  Lord  service,  by  sub- 
stituting tlurr  ozi'7i  for  /lis  comiiiauds.  And  they  say, 
you  must  think  and  act  as  I  do,  subscribe  my  paper, 
and  worship  in  my  way ;  or  else,  though  1  hope  the 
Lord  has  received  you,  it  is  my  duty  to  keep  my  dis- 
tance from  you. 

This  assuming,  dictating  spirit,  is  popery  among 
us  in  a  protestant  form  ;  indeed,  the  root  and  source 
whence  most  of  the  popish  abonunations  have  sprung. 
It  is  much  the  same  to  me,  whether  the  Scriptures  are 
locked  up,  or  not,  if  I  must  read  them  with  another's 
eyes.  1  think  we  have  ail  an  equal  right  to  judge 
for  ourselves,  and  that  we  are  no  more  bound  to  fol- 
low in^plicitly  the. s/ct'o/z/w7/.s',  sic  Jubemus,  or  sic  arhi- 
tramiir  of  a  bench  of  bishops,  or  a  board  of  independ- 
ents, or  a  general  assembly,  than  of  a  conclave  of  car- 
dinals. 

I  could  fill  a  sheet  on  the  mournful  subject  of  the 
'profligacy  and  calamities  of  the  times.  The  Lord's 
hand  is  lifted  up,  but  few  acknowledge  or  are  af- 
fected by  it.  Our  public  affairs  are  dark,  and  likely 
to  be  darker.  1  cannot  but  rejoice  that  an  end  is 
put  to  the  destructive  war  abroad  ;  but  I  dread  the 
eflPeets  of  our  dissensions  and  confusions  at  home ; 
especially  when  1  see  how  profancncss,  infidelity,  and 
all  the  usual  forerunners  of  national  ruin,  abound  and 
spread.  We  seem  to  have  little  more  union,  pnb- 
lic  spirit,  or  sense  of  the  hand  of  God  over  us,  than 
the  Jews  had,  just  before  the  destruction  of  Jerusa- 
lem. 

And  yet  I  hope  we  shall  not,  like  them,  be  given 
up  to  utter  ruin.  For,  though  the  nation  at  large 
seems  wicked  and  obstinate  to  an  extreme  ;  yet  the 
Ijord  has  a  people  among  us,  and,  1  hope,  u})on  the 
increase.  And  though  too  many  professors  are  far 
from  adorning  the  Gospel  they  profess,  yet  there  are, 
I  hope,  a  growing  number  of  excellent  Christians 
who  sigh  and  mourn  for  the  evils  they  cannot  pre- 
vent, and  are  standing  in  the  breach,  in  the  spirit  of 
wrestling  prayer.      For   the   elects'  sake,  I   hope,  the 


CHURCH    EVANGELICALS.  2f57 

(lavs  of  trouble  shall  be  shortened  and  moderated ;  and 
that  we  shall  not  be  utterly  forsaken. 

And  in  November  1784,  jMr.  Newton  writes  to  his 
seceding-  friend,  that  what  seems  principally  wanting, 
both  in  England  and  in  Scotland,  is  a  dispensation  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  Without  this,  I  hardly  see  a  pin  to 
choose  among  all  the  different  modes  and  forms  of 
church  government.  JVitJi  this,  the  one  true  church 
of  Christ  would  flourish  with  us  and  with  you,  under 
all  the  different  forms,  which  obtain  amongst  those  who 
hold  the  head. 

The   parishes,  in  England,  where  tlie  people  clioose 

their  ministers,  are  comparatively  few.     The  most  are 

appointed    by  patrons.      But    the  great    Head    of  the 

church     has     the    supreme    patronage.       And    Gospel 

ministers  are,  here  and  there,  brought   into  both  sorts 

of  places.     Even   in  Cambridge,  we  have  txvo  faithful 

and   able   parochial  ministers.     The  number  of  Gospel 

preachers   in  o/tr  church   is  greatly  upon   the  increase ; 

several  valuable  young  men  are  ordained  every  quarter ; 

perhaps    not   fewer    than   tiventy  or  thirtij  in   a  year. 

And,  now  and  then,  we  hear  of  a  ministei^  awakened  in 

his   own  parish,  after   a   course  of  years  spent  without 

any  regard    to   the  souls   of  his  people,  or  any  skill  to 

teach  them. 

Some,  who  have  taken  pains  to  get  the  best  informa- 
tion, think  we  have  now  more  than  three  hundred  (out 
of  eleven  thousand  established  clergy)  Gospel  preachers, 
fixed  in  parishes  ;  the  most  of  them,  either  curates  or 
lecturers ;  but  w-e  have  a  good  number  of  beneficed 
clergvmen  among  them  ;  and,  in  some  places,  a  con- 
siderable work.  London  is  higlily  favoured.  But 
though  we  have  many  good  preachers,  multitudes  of 
hearers,  and  many  excellent  Christians,  there  is,  like- 
wise, abundance  of  light  professors  ;  and,  I  think,  a 
general  complaint  that  the  ordinances,  though  bless- 
ed to  the  edification  of  believers,  are  7iot  signally  owned 
to  the  conversion  of  sinners. 

In  a  correspondence  with  JMr.  Campbell,  of  Scotland, 
covering  an  interval  of  years  from  1789  to    1802,   Mr. 


238  REVIVALS    DlSCOUKAGKl) 

Newton  not  only  shows  the  state  of  religion  in  the 
Anglican  Church  estabHshnient,  during  that  period  ; 
but,  in  his  own  truly  catholic  spirit,  exhibits  a  fine  con- 
trast to  those  sectarian  bigots,  with  whom  churchman- 
sliip  is  all,  and  Christianity  nothing. 

In  1793,  he  writes:  the  revival  at  Bala  demands 
thankfulness.  The  Lord,  according  to  his  sovereign 
pleasure,  now  and  then  vouchsafes  such  seasons  of  re- 
freshment, as  draw  the  attention  of  many.  But  hither- 
to they  have  usually  been  local  and  temporary.  I  remem- 
ber one  in  Scotland,  almost  fifty  years  ago.  The  most 
extensive,  I  think,  took  place  in  America,  about  the 
same  time,  and  was  first  observed  under  Dr.  Edwards's 
ministry,  at  Northampton.  There  is  generally  much 
good  done  in  such  seasons  of  power  ;  but  we  must  iiot 
expect  that  every  appearance  will  answer  our  wishes. 
There  are  many  more  blossoms  upon  a  tree  in  spring, 
than  there  will  be  apples  in  autumn.  Yet  we  are  glad 
to  see  blossoms,  because  we  know,  that  if  there  are  no 
blossoms,  there  can  be  710  fruit. 

When  such  sudden  and  general  awakenings  take 
place  among  people,  ignorant,  and  unacquainted  with 
Scripture,  they  are  more  or  less  attended  with  blemishes 
and  misguided  zeal.  Tlie  enemy  is  watchful  to  sow 
tares  among  the  wheat.  Thus  it  has  always  been. 
It  was  so  in  the  Apostle's  day.  Oifences  arise,  and 
they  who  wish  to  find  something  at  which  to  stumble 
and  cavil,  by  the  righteous  judgment  of  God,  have 
what  they  wish  for.  But  they  who  love  the  Lord, 
and  have  a  regard  for  precious  souls,  will  rejoice  in  the 
good  that  is  really  done ;  and  can  account  for  the 
occasional  mixtures,  from  the  present  state  of  human 
nature.  That  the  good  work  at  Bala  may  flourish, 
and  extend  to  London  and  Edinburgh,  is  my  sincere 
prayer. 

I  would,  in  passing,  notice,  that  the  Enghsh  esta- 
blished church,  as  a  body,  uniformly  discourages,  and 
labours  to  destroy,  all  rivals  of  religion.  From 
the    time    of  the    great    revival    under    VN^esley    and 


BY    ANGLICAN    CHURCH —  23  9 

AVliitficld,  through  all  the  subsequent  awakenings,  to 
the  present  hour,  t])e  secular  governors  of  the  Ang- 
lican Church,  and  its  bishops  and  dignitaries,  ge- 
nerally, have  set  tlieir  faces,  as  so  many  flints,  against 
every  a])pearance  of  the  quickening  influences  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  operating  to  call  tliose  who  are,  by 
nature,  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,  to  life,  and  light, 
and  i;nn»ortality,  in  God,  as  Christ  reconciling  himself 
to  them.  And  sorry  am  I  to  be  obliged  to  add,  that  in 
this-  respect,  as  well  as  in  some  other  7iot  to  be  com- 
mended instances,  too  large  a  ])ortion  of  the  American- 
Anglo-Chnrch  follows  the  unscriptiu'al  example  of  its 
established  niotiu'r. 

"  What  do  people  mean  by  tlie  7*n;/tv// of  religi<m  ?" 
asked  one  of  our  most  intelligent,  learned,  and  ami- 
able churchmen,  the  other  day.  His  ecclesiastical 
instructor  answered,  that  "  these  revivals  were  all 
nonsense,  and  cant,  and  irregularity,  and  fanaticism, 
and  methodism,  and  Calvinism.  For  all  regularlij 
baptized  persons  are  regenerated,  and  need  no  revival ; 
and  all  others,  being  nonepiscopalians,  and  having 
no  covenant  claim  to  salvation,  have  no  religion  to 
revive ;  but  are  as  our  aboriginal  Indians,  and  other 
heathen." 

Nevertiieless,  with  all  due  deference  to  this  great 
dragon  of  formalism,  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  re- 
vival of  religion.  Many  revivals  have  recently  oc- 
curred, and  are  still  progressive,  in  this,  and  in  some 
of  the  eastern  states,  and  in  many  other  parts  of  the 
American  Union.  A  revival  of  religion  is  an  awak- 
ening of  those  who  are  perishing  in  the  death-sleep  of 
carnal  security  and  confidence ;  covered  all  over  with 
the  thick  scales  of  formalism  ;  living  without  God,  and 
without  Christ,  and  without  hope,  in  the  world  ;  to 
a  sense  of  their  own  natural  depravity,  their  lost  con- 
dition, the  necessity  of  a  change  of  heart ;  of  living 
by  faith,  of  leading  a  pure  and  holy  life,  of  laying  hold 
on  Christ,  as  the  oiilij^  the  sole  source  of  their  eternal 
salvation. 


240  AND    AMERICAN-ANGLO-CIIUIJCH. 

There  was  a  great  revival  of  religion  in  Europe 
at  the  Reformation  from  popery,  when  God  raised 
up  Luther,  and  Calvin,  and  Melancthon,  and  others, 
as  beacon  lights,  to  sliovv  their  fellow-men,  regularly 
baptized,  and  episcopally  regenerated,  as  were  then 
nearly  all  the  inhabitants  of  Christendom,  the  way 
from  the  darkness  of  form,  and  ceremony,  and  super- 
stition, and  lust,  and  blood,  up  into  the  open  daylight 
of  the  pure  Gospel. 

There  was  a  great  revival  of  religion  in  England, 
among  all  denominations,  about  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  under  the  powerful  evangelical 
preaching  of  Wesley  and  ^Vhitfiold,  and  their  disci- 
ples and  followers.  There  is  a  great  revival  of  reli- 
gion noxv,  over  almost  all  Christendom  ;  nay,  even  in 
the  Anglican  and  A nierican- Anglo-Churches ;  not- 
withstanding the  deadly  hostility  of  tlieir  nume- 
rous hosts  of  formal,  secular  clergy,  to  every  thing 
in  the  shape  of  evangelical  doctrine,  and  spiritual 
piety. 

A  revival  of  religion  causes  men  to  cast  away  all 
confidence  in  their  own  ,vt'//^righteousness;  and  to 
exchange  their  semipagan,  vapid  ethics,  for  the  pure 
doctrines  of  grace ;  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformers, 
of  the  Apostles,  of  Christ.  All  which  are  as  a  vo- 
lume sealed,  and  a  fountain  closed,  to  formalists; 
v;ho  never  thus  either  instruct  the  living,  or  direct  the 
dying.  For  example,  in  visiting  the  fiiclc,  they  con- 
fine their  views  to  mere  human  relations ;  and  bid 
the  departing  sinner  be  of  good  cheer ;  because, 
peradventure,  he  has  neither  cheated,  nor  robbed,  nor 
murdered  any  of  his  fellow-men  ;  has  neither,  to  use 
Mr.  Jefferson's  phrase,  picked  a  pocket,  nor  broken 
a  leg. 

Which  may,  possibly,  be  all  very  true;  and  yet  the 
expiring  creature  not  be  fit  to  appear  before  the 
judgment-seat  of  that  God,  who  will  not  suffer  sin  to 
go  unpunished ;  who  requires  a  living  fjiith,  internal 
holiness,  and  a  saving  personal  interest  in  tlic  all-suffi- 


I'OUIVIALISAr POPEUV,  241 

cieiit  sacrifice  ;  as  tlie  indispensable  passports  to  eter- 
nal life. 

It  is  worthy  of  remembrance,  that  this  mode  of  ad- 
ministering consolation  to  a  sick  or  death  bed,  is  pre- 
cisely similar  to  that  described  by  Mr.  Ward,  in  his 
Farewell  Letters,  as  taking  place  among  the  formalists 
of  Hindusthan.  AVhen  a  Hindu  comes  to  die,  his 
friends  endeavour  to  console  him  by  repeating  his  good 
deeds;  that  he  has  always  been  a  good  man;  has 
worshipped  the  gods ;  regularly  performed  his  ablu- 
tions ;  been  liberal  to  the  priests ;  has  done  nobody 
any  harm  ;  and  that  therefore,  he  can  have  nothing 
to  fear. 

Thus,  formalism  is  the  same  self  righteous  self-idol- 
atry in  a  Hindu  heathen,  as  in  a  regularly  baptized, 
nominal  Christian. 

In  May  1793,  Mr.  Newton  writes, — so  far  as  pope- 
ry may  concern  the  civil  state  of  the  nations,  I  appre- 
hend no  great  danger  from  it.  I7ifidelitii  and  scepticism 
are  the  spreading  popery  at  present.  The  spirit  and 
strength  of  popery  seems  broken,  and  the  pope  little 
more  regarded  by  the  bulk  of  the  Roman  church, 
than  by  the  protestants.  The  heavy  penal  laws,  former- 
ly in  force,  however  politically  necessary,  do  not  ap- 
pear consistent  either  with  the  letter  or  spirit  of  the 
New  Testament.  In  a  religious  view,  I  cannot  see 
why  a  papist  has  not  as  good  a  right  to  worship  God 
according  to  his  conscience,  though  erroneous,  and  to 
educate  his  children,  as  I  have  myself.  I  am  no 
friend  to  persecution  or  restraint  in  matters  of  con- 
science. 

The  stir  made  in  1780,  when  protestants  were  gain- 
ing more  liberty  in  popish  countries,  was  a  reproach 
to  our  national  character,  both  as  Britons  and  pro- 
testants. And  I  hope  never  to  see  such  a  time  again 
upon  such  a  pretence.  I  cannot  see  that  an  un{)rin- 
cipled  or  wicked  protestant,  is  a  whit  better  than  a 
bigoted   papist.     Yet   these,  of  all  sorts,  are  tolerated. 

And  towards  the  close  of  the  same  year,  he  says  ; 
I  have   a   letter   from  Dr.   Robbins,  of  Plyjnonth,  in 

R 


^42  REVIVALS — BEST    CHRISTIAN. 

Massachusetts,  whose  iiaine  I  never  heard  before.  Me 
gives  an  account  of  a  sudden  revival  of  religion  there, 
much  like  that  you  had  from  Bala.  It  began  since 
Christmas  last,  when  every  thing  seemed  dead  or  de- 
clining around  him.  He  has  been  a  minister  there  up- 
wards of  thirty  years.  He  writes  like  a  good  old 
soldier.  Thus,  in  different  places,  tlie  wall  of  Zion 
is  building  up  in  these  troublous  times.  The  l^ord 
has  not  forsaken  the  earth,  bad  as  it  is.  In  London 
we  have  abundance  of  the  Gospel ;  and,  perliaps,  it 
never  was  more  clearly  and  practically  preached.  But 
we  may  lament  with  you,  the  want  of  more  accompany- 
ing power. 

\Vhen  we  really  feel  our  need  of  a  revival,  it  is  a 
sign  that  we  are  already,  in  a  measure,  revived.  The 
grand  symptom  of  a  decline  is  msensibility .  When 
Ephraim  has  gray  hairs,  the  mark  of  leprosy  here  and 
there  upon  him,  and  knoweth  it  not :  Hosea,  vii.  9- 
But,  indeed,  we  all  need  reviving  in  our  persons,  fami- 
lies, religious  societies,  and  in  the  nations.  We  pi^ay 
for  it,  and  perhaps  the  Lord  is  about  to  answer  our 
prayers,  by  the  very  things  we  are  afraid  of.  The 
building^of  the  wall  may  be  carried  on  most  prosperous- 
ly in  troublous  times.  And  whatever  report  flesh 
and  sense  may  make,  faith  will  allow  that  those  must 
be  the  best  times,  when  the  best  cause  flourishes  most. 
It  is  to  be  hoped  that  many  have  been  taught  by  famine, 
sword,  or  pestilence,  after  they  had  long  heard  the  Gospel 
in  vain. 

In  August  1794,  he  says :  if  I  was  qualified  to 
search  out  the  best  Christian  in  the  kingdom,  I  should 
not  expect  to  find  him  either  in  a  professor's  chair,  or 
in  a  pulpit.  I  should  give  the  palm  to  that  person, 
who  had  the  lowest  thoughts  of  himself,  and  the  most 
admiring  and  cordial  thoughts  of  the  Saviour.  And, 
perhaps,  this  may  be  some  bedridden  old  man  or  wo- 
man, or  a  pauper  in  a  parish  workhouse.  Our  regara 
to  the  Lord  is  not  to  be  measured  by.  our  sensible  feel- 
ings, by  what  we  can   say  or   write  ;  but  by  the  simpli- 


CHURCH    KVANGEI,TS]\r — TIlllEI.IGIOX.  24.'5 

city  of  our  dependence,  and  tlie  uniform  tenor  of  our 
obedience  to  his  will.  But,  1  trust,  1  wish  CfjuaUy 
well  to  the  Gospel,  whetlier  preached  in  a  church,  a 
chapel,  a  kirk,  a  meeting  house,  or  a  barn  ;  and  whether 
the  preachers  are  of  the  English  or  Scottish  establish- 
ments, seceders,  reliefmen,  or  metliodists. 

The  Gospel  certainly  spreads  in  the  establishment. 
Young  men  of  abilities  and  piety  are  ordained  every 
season  ;  there  are  four  seasons  in  the  year  ;  and  we  now 
and  then  hear  of  clergymen  awakened,  after  they  had 
been  blind  teachers  of  the  blind,  for  many  years.  In 
I^ondon  we  are  highly  favoured  witli  many  ministers  of 
the  first  rank  for  zeal  and  wisdom.  Such  there  are, 
likewise,  in  some  of  our  great  towns,  as  Leicester,  Bir- 
mingham, Leeds,  Halifax,  York,  Hull,  Reading;  and, 
I  hope,  there  are  several  hundreds,  settled  in  places  of 
less  note,  who  are  diligent  and  useful.  Add  to  this, 
the  itinerants  in  town  and  country,  in  Whitfield's, 
Wesley's,  and  lady  Huntingdon's  departments,  among 
whom  are  many  faithful  and  good  preachers  ;  and  many 
of  the  evangelical  dissenters ;  and  we  may  hope,  that 
real  religion  is  reviving  and  spreading  amongst  us. 

Tiiis,  I  trust,  is  a  token,  almost  the  only  one,  for 
good,  in  this  dark  and  threatening  day.  The  hulk  of 
the  nation  is  asleep  in  sin  ;  infidelity,  folly,  and  dissi- 
pation abound  every  where ;  but  the  Lord  has  a  pray- 
ing people,  who  mourn  the  evils  they  cannot  prevent, 
and  the  miseries  which  are  the  fruits  of  sin.  I'liese,  I 
hope,  would  appear  a  large  number,  if  brought  all  to- 
gether ;  but  scattered  as  they  are  up  and  down,  they 
are  one  in  him ;  and  for  their  sakes,  I  hope  our  civil 
and  religious  privileges  will  be  still  preserved  to  us. 

Yet  in  November  of  the  same  year,  he  writes  :  the 
profanation  of  the  Lord's  day  is  a  great  sin ;  but  many 
sin  through  ignorance.  They  have  neither  good  ex- 
ample to  lead  them  to  church,  nor  good  instruction 
when  they  go.  It  is  one  of  the  many  crying  sins,  which 
form  our  national  character.  But  I  do  not  think  it  is 
the  loudest.      And  1  think  the  guilt  of  it  lies  heavily 


244  IRISH    TOLKUxiTlON. 

on  tlic  great,  the  magistrates,  and  the  (estahlishecl) 
clergy.  If  the  hungry  sheep  look  up,  they  are  not 
fed ;  or  the  places  where  there  is  food  for  them,  are 
very  few. 

In  February  179.^,  he  says:  I  thmk  the  Roman 
Catholics  in  Ireland  were  long  treated  much  like  Israel 
in  Egypt.  I  do  not  consider  their  toleration  as  any 
way  connected  with  religion ;  and  as  a  political  measure, 
I  highly  approve  it,  upon  the  principle,  that  I  am 
glad  of  liberty  to  worship  God  according  to  my 
light;  and,  therefore,  am  very  willing  that  others  should 
have  the  same  liberty.  Toleration,  if  considered  as  a 
matter  of  favour,  is  an  insult  upon  conscience,  and 
an  intrusion  on  the  prerogative  of  the  Lord  of  con- 
science. I  should  be  glad  of  a  toleration  to  eat,  if  I 
might  not  eat  without  it;  yet  I  should  think  it  hard,  if 
I  could  not  breakfast  or  dine,  without  the  leave  of  a 
parliament. 

Popery  always  showed  a  perseciiting  spirit ;  and 
therefore,  when  the  protestauts  got  power,  as  they 
were  unwilling  to  risk  being  again  called  to  the  honour 
of  suffering  for  the  Gospel's  sake,  and  equally  unable  to 
trust  in  the  providence  of  God,  they  entrenched  them- 
selves within  a  bulwark  of  cruel,  unchristian,  penal  laws. 
The  Jewish  nation  was  a  theocracy,  and  idolatry  was 
not  only  a  sin  against  God,  but  a  crime  against  the 
state,  and,  tlicrefore.  punishable  with  death.  Pro- 
testants availed  themselves  of  this  precedent :  call  the 
papists  idolaters,  and  treat  them  as  you  please.  Tear 
away  their  children  from  them  ;  hinder  them  from  wor- 
shipping God  at  all.  Let  any  rebellious,  profligate  son, 
claim  his  father's  estate,  if  he  will  but  renounce  popery,  he 
need  not  have  any  religion  ;  he  may  be  an  atheist,  pro- 
vided he  promises  not  to  be  a  papist.  Oppress  them  as 
much  as  you  can,  and  if  you  do  not  quite  murder 
them,  admire  your  own  mercy. 

I  abiior  the  treatment  of  the  presbyterians  in  Scot- 
land, in  Charles  the  second's  time ;  and  I  do  not 
think   much    better  of  the   severities   against  the   pa- 


god's  government.  245 

pists  in  Ireland.  I  did  not  wonder  at  the  contempt 
the  Lord  poured  upon  the  mistaken  zeal  of  the  pro- 
testant  association  of  the  year  1780.  Can  the  Gos- 
pel of  Christ  authorize  mch  things?  Are  these  the 
fruits  of  love  ?  Is  it  thus  we  do  as  we  wish  to  be  done 
by  ?  Surely,  the  Son  of  Man  came,  not  to  destroy, 
but  to  save  men's  lives. 

In  June  1795,  he  says :  many  think,  yea,  many 
presume  to  say,  that  God  does  not  govern  the  earth. 
He  has  a  controversy  with  the  nations,  and  especial- 
ly with  our  nation ;  which,  considering  our  superior 
privileges,  I  deem  to  be  the  zcorst  in  Christendom. 
Yet  the  light  and  power  of  the  Gospel  are  certainly 
upon  the  increase  in  England.  This  is  the  only  good 
sign  of  the  times  I  can  discern.  We  may  pray  in 
faith  for  the  spread  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  enlarge- 
ment of  our  Lord's  kingdom  ;  for  we  may  be  sure, 
this  is  the  great  design  he  has  in  view ;  and  for 
which  the  wheels  of  time  and  nature  are  kept  in  mo- 
tion. 

JViis  is  the  grand  mark,  to  which  the  rise  and  fall 
of  empires,  and  the  commotions  of  the  present  day, 
have  a  direct  tendency ;  though  the  way  of  the  I^ord 
is  so  in  the  sea,  that  we  short-sighted  creatures  can- 
not trace  the  connexion  of  events,  and  the  depend- 
ence of  one  upon  another.  But  his  word  warrants 
us  to  believe,  what  we  cannot  clearly  see.  And, 
even  now,  his  hand  is  so  visibly  and  awfully  lifted 
up,  that  it  becomes  us  to  see,  and  acknowledge  it, 
and  humble  ourselves  under  it ;  whether  others  will 
or  not.  The  Lord  has  a  controversy  with  this  nation  ; 
he  is  pleading  his  own  cause  against  the  prevailing 
spirit  of  irifidditij,  and  the  abominations  that  abound  ; 
and  he  will  make  sinful  worms  know  that  he  is  the 
I..ord,  and  that  in  all  they  speak  proudly,  he  is  above 
them. 

Let  us,  my  friend,  settle  it  as  a  maxim,  that  it  is 
the  best  time,  when  the  best  cause  flourishes  most ; 
for  as  the  life  is  more  than  meat,    so   is   the  soul  more 


246  neavton's  situation. 

than  the  body.  If  one  half  of  the  kingdom  was  ra- 
vaged by  war,  provided  the  distress  was  sanctified  to 
stir  np  many  careless  ones  to  seek  the  Ijord  and  his 
salvation  :  such  a  dispensation  would  be  more  a  mercy 
than  a  judgment. 

In  reference  to  his  own  situation,  and  the  offence 
which  his  evangelism  gave  to  the  church  establish- 
ment, Mr.  Newton  writes,  in  July  1796:  some  have 
wondered,  of  late,  how  I  could  stay  with  comfort  in  my 
present  situation.  But  nothing  is  imposed  upon  me,  as 
a  clergvman,  that  hurts  my  conscience.  I  find  liberty  in 
the  service  ;  my  church  is  full  and  crowded ;  my  audi- 
tory peaceful  and  attentive  ;  there  are  many  eminent 
Christians  among  them,  and  a  general  seriousness  upon 
the  face  of  the  congregation.  Some,  and  as  times  go, 
many,  are  successfully  awakened  ;  and  we  have,  parti- 
cularly, a  fine  show  of  young  people  springing  up,  and 
incjeasing  in  numbeis  and  graces,  like  willows  by  the 
water-courses. 

In  a  word,  the  blind  receive  their  sight,  the  lame 
walk,  the  lepers  are  cleansed,  the  deaf  hear,  the 
hungry  are  fed,  the  burdened  are  set  at  liberty.  With 
these  tokens  of  the  Lord's  presence  amongst  us,  and 
his  goodness  afforded  in  my  private  and  public  work,  I 
am  well  satisfied  that  I  am  where  he  would  have  me  to 
be.  If  he  accepts  and  visits  us,  it  is  a  small  matter 
if  some  of  our  brethren  are  displeased.  If  he  is  pleased 
to  smile  upon  us,  we  can  bear  tJieir  censures.  Besides, 
if  I  leave  this  church,  to  whom  must  I  go  ?  The  pres- 
byterians,  independents,  baptists,  seceders,  &c.  all  say, 
with  equal  positiveness :  vce  are  the  people.  But  I 
cannot  join  them  all.  By  the  grace  of  God,  I  will 
love,  and  pray  for  them  all;  but  will  join  none  of 
them.  I  will  stay  where  I  am ;  and  if  I  were  to 
choose  again,  I  would  make  the  same  choice  to-morrow. 
I  never  did,  I  trust  I  never  shall  repent  it.  My  rea- 
sons assigned  in  the  Apologia,  are  more  and  more 
confirmed  to  me,  the  longer  I  live. 

In  the  October  following,    he  writes :  we   spent  the 


Home  heathenism — Moravians.         247 

lirst  week  at  Reading,  wliere  the  I^ord  has  many  peo- 
ple, warm  hearted,   upright   and   loving.     The  rest  of 

our    time    we    were    at   Mr.   T 's,    at    Portswood 

Green.  He  lives  within  two  miles  of  S — — ,  where 
there  are   five    churches,  but   no  pulpit  open   for  me. 

But    Mr.  T opened  his    house,    and   made  room 

for  about  three  hundred  hearers.  1  preached  three 
evenings  in  the  week,  while  I  stayed ;  we  were  often 
full ;  my  hearers  were  chiefly  from  the  neighbouring 
villages,  and  seem  willing  to  hear  the  Gospel,  if  they 
had  any  body  to  preach  it  to  them.  But,  alas !  in  those 
parts,  and  in  many  parts  of  the  kingdom,  comparatively 
a  land  of  light,  the  hungry  sheep  look  up,  but  are  not 
fed. 

^Ve  need  not  go  far  from  home  to  find  people  no 
less  ignorant  of  spiritual  things ;  no  less  unconcerned 
about  their  souls,  than  the  heathens  in  Africa  or 
Otaheite.  We  are  encouraged,  yea,  commanded  to 
pray,  that  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  would  send  forth 
more  faithful  labourers  ;  for  as  yet  they  are  but  few, 
compared  with  the  extensive  wilds,  at  lioiiie,  and 
abroad. 

In  April  and  July  1797,  he  says:  I  am  glad  you 
have  seen  a  Moravian  brother.  They  are  in  general 
alike ;  and  have  a  few  peculiarities  resulting  from 
their  church  constitution ;  but  as  a  body,  are  the  most 
exemplary,  peaceful,  and  spiritual  society,  of  all  that 
bear  the  Christian  name.  Their  grand  object,  in 
which  their  excellence  is  signally  displayed,  is  the 
conversion  of  the  heathen.  In  tliis  branch,  without 
noise  or  notice,  they  have  done  iiiore  in  promoting 
the  knowledge  of  the  true  Gospel,  in  about  fifty 
years,  than  has  been  done  by  all  Christendom,  in  fif- 
teen hundred  years  before  them.  God  has  given 
them  the  true  missionary  spirit ;  and  excepting  JNIr. 
Braincrd,  and  two  or  three  more,  in  North  America, 
they  have  hitherto  had  a  monopoly  of  it ;  though 
Mr.  Cary,  the  baptist  missionary  in  Bengal,  is  tread- 
ing in  their  steps.     Their   patience,   fortitude,  self-de- 


218  PRAYEll MI8SIONIS 

nial,  perseverance,  courage,  holy  wisdom,  and  suc- 
cess, would  be  astonishing,  did  we  not  know  whose  they 
are,  and  whom  they  serve. 

I  am  glad  that  a  spirit  of  prayer  is  excited  in  your 
parts,  on  a  national  account.  I  wish  it  was  more  so 
with  us.  1  hope  we  have  many,  though  comparatively 
few,  whose  eyes  affect  their  hearts  ;  and  who  mourn  in 
secret  the  evils  they  cannot  prevent.  These  are  the 
chariots  and  horsemen  of  our  Israel.  I  have  little 
hope  from  our  fleets  and  armies,  farther  than  the  Lord 
may  be  pleased  to  give  them  success,  in  answer  to  the 
prayers  of  his  people. 

This  truly  Scriptural  sentiment  coincides  with 
the  strong  expression  of  an  eminent  American  di- 
vine, delivered  from  the  pulpit,  on  a  fast  day,  during 
the  late  war  between  the  United  States  and  Britain. 
After  showing,  both  from  the  Bible  and  from  history, 
that  pure  religion  is  the  only  sure  bulwark  of  human 
society,  the  preacher  said,  "  to  sum  up  all  in  a  single 
sentence,  one  praying  old  woman  is  of  moi^e  importance 
to  the  safety  of  our  country,  than  twenty  blaspheming 
generals." 

Mr.  Newton  continues :  I  hope  the  spirit  for  inis- 
sions,  which  has  of  late  been  so  generally  awakened, 
will,  in  due  time,  by  the  Lord's  blessing,  produce  much 
good.  The^r*^  and  present  good  effect  of  it  is  the 
concern  excited  for  the  multitudes  in  our  ozvn  land, 
who  are  perishing  for  lack  of  knowledge.  The  evange- 
lical dissenters  amongst  us  are  taking  this  matter  into 
serious  consideration,  and  are  sending  forth  mission- 
aries into  all  quarters.  And  though  I  am  of  the  esta- 
blishment, and  their  zeal  is  not  likely  to  aggrandize 
mother  church,  if  they  employ  fit  instruments,  and  tlie 
I^ord  is  pleased  to  own  their  labours,  I  n)ust  and  will 
rejoice  ;  for  I  dare  not  wish  the  sheep  should  be  starved, 
because  their  oticn  reputed  and  official  pastors  cannot, 
or  will  7iot  feed  them. 

I  know  that  many  on  your  side  of  the  Tweed,  deem 
presby terian  order  to  be  de  jure  divino ;  a  tabernacle 
made  exactly  according  to  the  pattern  on   the  mount ; 


CHURCH  ORDKII.  249 

and  that  it  would  be  criminal  either  to  add,  or  to  take 
away  a  single  loop  or  pin.  On  our  side  of  the  river, 
many  think  as  highly  of  episcopal,  or  of  congregational 
order.  Perhaps  much  of  our  differences  of  opinion  on 
this  head,  may  be  ascribed  to  the  air  we  breathed, 
and  the  milk  we  drank  in  our  infancy.  If  I  had  lived 
in  Scotland,  and  known  the  Lord,  my  ministry,  I 
suppose,  woidd  have  been  in  the  kirk,  or  the  relief,  or 
the  secession  ;  and  if  Dr.  Erskine  had  been  born  and 
bred  among  us,  and  regarded  according  to  his  merit, 
he  might  have    been  arciibishop    of  Canterbury  long 

Thus,  I  have  given  my  free  sentiments  on  your 
knotty  point,  I  would  not  willingly  offend  any  one. 
I  claim  the  privilege  of  thinking  for  myself,  and  am 
well  content  that  others  sliould  enjoy  the  same.  I  hope 
I  love  all,  who  love  the  Lord  Jesus  in  sincerity.  If 
they  agree  with  me  in  this  point,  I  would  not  waste 
half  an  hour  in  attempting  to  convert  them  to  my 
opinion  in  smaller  matters.  I  leave  others  to  dispute  if 
the  husk  or  the  shell  of  the  nut  be  better.  I  hope  to 
be  content  with  the  kernel. 

In  the  October  following,  he  writes :  the  Gospel 
ministers  in  our  establishment  are  mostly  confined  to 
their  parishes,  and  cannot  do  much  abroad ;  but  the 
congregational  dissenters  are  stirring  in  most  parts  of 
our  kingdom,  and  associating  with  a  design  to  spread 
the  good  news  among  the  villages  in  their  respective 
neighbourhoods,  which  are  wofuUy  neglected  (by  the 
state  clergy)  in  many  places.  Indeed,  we  cannot  ex- 
pect those  who  have  no  concern  for  their  own  souls, 
should  be  careful  for  the  souls  of  their  parishioners. 
I  fear,  but  few  of  them,  comparatively,  have  either 
the  ivill,  or  the  skill,  which  the  shepherd's  office  re- 
quires; and  therefore,  though  I  am  a  mighty  good 
churchman,  I  must  bid  God  speed  to  the  labours  of  all 
who  preach  the  truth  in  love,  whether  in  meetings  or 
barns,  in  the  highways  or  the  fields.  It  is  better  people 
should  be  dissenters,  or  methodists,  than  [^regularly 
baptized]  heathens. 


i 


2.50  INFIDELITY — LAV    PIIEACHINC;. 

Infidelity  sjireads,  and,  I  trust,  the  Gospel  spreads 
likewise.  Perhaps,  the  time  is  coming,  when  all  sects 
and  parties  shall  be  reduced  to  two — Christians  and 
infidels.  So  it  was  at  the  first  promulgation  of  the 
Gospel.  For  what  I  know,  before  long,  the  infidel 
spirit  may  be  so  prevalent,  that  no  man,  without  real 
grace,  will  dare  to  avow  even  a  professional  attach- 
ment to  the  name  of  Jesus ;  then,  fijrmal  professors 
will  drop  off  like  leaves  from  the  trees  in  Octolier. 

In  the  year  1798,  he  says:  I  rejoice  in  the  success 
of  the  northern  mission.  May  it  still  increase  !  I 
trust  the  Lord  is  spreading  and  reviving  his  work  in 
our  land,  and  if  so,  I  care  not  by  vcJiat  instruments,  or 
under  tvliat  mode  or  name,  the  good  cause  is  pro 
moted. 

I  suppose  the  introduction  to  the  Northern  Tour  will 
not  be  relished  by  every  one  ;  but  the  arguments  in 
favour  of  itinerancy,  and  lay  preaching,  will  not  be 
easily  refuted.  Yet  still  1  think  lay  preachers  should 
be  sent,  if  not  by  bishops,  consistories,  or  elders,  at  least, 
by  some  religious  persons  or  societies,  competent  to 
judge  of  their  fitness.  Perhaps  even  this  would  not  be 
necessary,  if  all,  who  undertake  the  service,  were  men 
of  character  and  a])iiities.  But  the  position,  that  every 
man,  who  thinks  himself  qualified  to  preach,  has  there- 
fore a  warrant  to  go  forth,  produces  many  bad  effects  on 
our  side  of  the  Tweed. 

Some  of  them,  tliough  they  can  smite  with  the  hand, 
stamp  with  the  foot,  and  speak  witli  a  loud  voice,  do 
not  well  understand  what  tliey  say,  nor  whereof  they 
affirm  ;  their  preaching  is  crude,  often  erroneous.  They 
diffuse  pride,  censoriousness,  antinomianism,  and  party 
rage  amongst  their  adherents  ;  for  few  are  so  bad  but 
they  have  some  adherents.  The  characters  of  others 
are  suspicious ;  they  run  about  to  the  neglect  of  their 
proper  business,  and  their  families,  and,  perhaps,  be- 
come bankrupts  ;  and  cause  the  good  way  to  be  evil 
spoken  of. 

I  know  not  if  infidelity  has  greatly  spread,  though 
its  avowal  is  more  })ublic.      Many,   perha))s  most,  were 


DAKKNKSS    OF    KNdl-ANl).  231 

licart-infidels,  before  they  read  the  books  to  which  they 
ascribe  their  new  wisdom.  But  the  writings  of  Paine, 
and  others,  like  the  spear  of  Ithuriel,  have  brought  them 
forth  in  their  true  characters. 

Infidehty  is  now  enthroned  at  Rome ;  and  many  of 
the  cardinals  have  sung  hymns  to  the  praise  of  French^ 
liberty ;  but  popery  still  subsists  in  many  parts  of 
Christendom  ;  therefore,  I  think,  infidelity  has  not  done 
all  its  work. 

Notwithstanding  the  confusion  and  misery  spread 
over  the  greater  part  of  Europe,  and  reaching  even  to 
our  sister  kingdom,  we,  in  this  island,  are  still  preserved 
in  internal  peace.  ^lay  we  not  accept  his  repeated 
interpositions  in  our  favour,  as  a  token  for  good ;  that 
though  he  will  chasten,  he  will  not  destroy,  nor  give 
us  up  to  the  will  of  them  that  hate  us  ?  May  we  not 
accept  it  as  an  answer  to  tlie  prayers  of  his  remnant 
amongst  us  ?  A  small  remnant,  indeed,  compared  with 
the  nation  at  large  ;  but  not  very  small  in  the  aggregate 
number. 

If  all,  who  stand   in   the  breach,  pleading  for  mercy, 
could  be  brought  together  into   one  place,  I  trust  they 
would  appear   a  goodly  company.      And   though   they 
are   scattered   and  dispersed   up   and   down    the    land, 
the   salt  of  the  earth,    which   preserves   it  from   total 
putrefaction ;  yet,   in   Jiis   view,  they  are  all   one  con- 
nected army,  who  meet,  and  unite  daily,  and  often,  at 
the  same  rallying  point,   the  throne  of  grace.     Is   not 
the  spirit,  that  is  engaged  to  spread  the  Gospel  at  home^ 
as  well  as  abroad,   another   token   for  good,  at  such  a 
time  as   this  ?       Far  from   recalling  his   ambassadors, 
which  might  have  an  awful  appearance   of  war,  I  trust 
he  is  increasing   their   numbers,    and    enlarging   their 
powers. 

jNIanv  neglected  spots,  in  different  parts  of  England, 
are  already  beginning  to  rejoice  and  blossom  as  the  rose. 
I  question,  if  any  thing  you  see  in  Scotland  can  give 
you  an  idea  of  the  ignorance  and  wretchedness  that 
reign  in  man])  of  our  parishes,  where  they  are  no  less 
destitute  of  the  form,  than   of  the  power  of  godliness ; 


252        CHURCH    NKGLIGENCE — AWAKENINGS. 

where  the  church  doors  are  seldom  opened  on  the 
Lord's  day  ;  where  three-fourths  of  the  children  of  ten 
or  twelve  years  of  age,  cannot  tell  their  letters.  But 
these  evils  are  diminishing;  partly  by  Sunday  schools, 
in  some  places ;  and  partly  by  the  village  preaching, 
which  the  evangelical  dissenters  are  setting  forward 
in  most  of  our  counties  ;  and  in  which,  I,  thougli  not 
a  dissenter,  greatly  rejoice,  and  daily  pray  for  their 
success. 

If  the  officio!  shepherds  know  not  to  feed,  or  care  for, 
either  themselves  or  their  flocks,  I  would  be  thankful 
that  others  a,re  stirred  up  to  supply  tlieir  lack  of  service. 
I  care  not  much  for  order,  regularity,  or  commission, 
in  such  a  case.  When  a  house  is  on  fire,  people  of  any 
party  or  profession  are  welcome  to  bring  water  to  ex- 
tinguish it,  whether  churchmien,  or  kirkmen,  elders,  or 
ploughmen.  When  great  awakenings  take  place  among 
people  grossly  ignorant  of  the  Scriptures,  there  are 
often  extraordinary  appearances.  It  was  so  among 
our  first  methodists,  under  Messrs.  Wesley,  Whitfield, 
Berridge,  &c.  It  was  so  in  the  great  revival  in  Ame- 
rica, which  began  under  Mr.  Kdwards ;  so  likewise,  at 
Kilsyth. 

The  Lord  permits  it,  perhaps,  for  two  reasons  ;  fi?^st, 
these  stirs  engage  the  attention  of  the  neighbourhood, 
and  prompt  many  to  hear,  who,  otherwise,  would  not ; 
— second,  there  are  those  who  ward  something  to  cavil 
at,  and  these  things  furnish  the  occasions  they  wish  for, 
according  to  the  prophecy,  Isaiah  viii.  14,  1.5.  The 
light  comes,  but  they  who  love  darkness,  tliink  them- 
selves justified  in  opposing  the  light,  on  account  of  these 
incidental  blemishes,  upon  which,  therefore,  they  are  glad 
to  expatiate. 

Nay,  the  Messrs. s,   who  v/ere  good  men,  were 

extreme  bigots ;  and  because  they  had  left  the  kirk,  they 
took  it  for  granted,  that  the  Lord  had  forsaken  it  like- 
wise; and  therefore,  hastily  concluded,  that  the  work 
could  7iot  be  his.  1  have  heard  that  they  fasted,  and 
prayed  the  I^ord  to  put  a  stop  to  it. 


GROWTH    OF    DISSENTEUS.  253 

111  the  year  1799,  lie,  incidentally,  shows  the  rapid 
growth  of  dissenters  in  England,  when  lie  says :  in 
London,  tabernacles  might  be  bnilt  in  every  street,  with- 
out giving  umbrage  ;  and,  indeed,  places  of  that  castar^ 
springing  up  like  mushrooms,  frequently ;  but  then,  it 
is  an  old  matter  with  us.  When  Mr.  Whitfield  and 
Mr.  Wesley  began,  there  was  stir  enough.  People 
were  alarmed,  as  if  St.  PauVs  and  the  Monument  were 
to  be  overturned  ;  but  these  fears  have  been  long  since 
quieted. 

I  must,  and  do  rejoice  in  the  success  of  respectable 
itinerants,  in  places  sadly  destitute  of  the  Gospel.  I 
expect  some  mixture  of  human  infirmity  in  the  best  de- 
signs of  the  best  men  ;  and  Satan  will  be  busy,  when  he 
feels  his  kingdom  shaken.  But  the  Lord  will  accept 
the  intentions  of  his  faithful  servants,  and  overrule  all 
thiugs  eventually  for  good.  He  will  plead  their  cause, 
and  put  their  enemies  to  shame  and  silence,  if  they 
simply  and  patiently  commit  it  to  him  ;  but  if  they  take 
it  too  much  into  their  own  hands,  they  usually  make 
bad  worse.  The  w^eapons  of  our  warfare  are  not 
carnal.  We  should  disclaim,  not  only  fire  and  sword, 
but  angry  disputation  and  invective;  for  these,  also,  are 
carnal  weapons.  The  Apostle  says, — being  defamed, 
we  entreat. 

Through  mercy,  there  is  some  stir  among  the  sol- 
diers with  us,  and  among  the  seamen  in  the  navy. 
May  the  I^ord  confirm  them,  and  increase  their 
numbers  I 

In  1800,  1801,  and  1802,  Mr  Newton  says:  the  ac- 
count of  your  highland  tour,  is  pleasant  and  interest- 
ing. I  hear  of  no  such  sudden,  general  awakenings 
in  our  kingdom  ;  but  I  hope  the  Gospel  does  spread, 
though  more  gradually  and  silently,  especially  in  the 
establishment.  Several  very  promising  young  men, 
are  ordained  in  the  course  of  the  year  ;  and  tlic 
number  of  serious  students,  in  both  the  universities, 
seems  to  be  still  increasing.  I  hope  much  good  is  like- 
wise  done  by  the  dissenting  itinerancy.     But  I  fear  the 


25-i  POLiriCS CATHOr.lCISM. 

savour  of  the  good  ointment  is  in  some  places  in- 
jured, and  its  efficacy  obstructed  by  the  dead-fly  of 
politics. 

Hypothesis  must  give  way  to  facts ;  otherwise, 
when  1  consider  the  letter,  or  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel, 
I  should  think  it  impossible  that  any  persons,  having 
the  glory  of  God  and  the  good  of  souls  at  heart,  espe- 
cially preachers,  could  perplex  themselves,  or  their  con- 
nexions, with  political  matters.  I  am  sure  neither 
Paul,  nor  his  brother  Peter,  ever  so  intermeddled. 
From  poison  and  politics,  good  Lord,  deliver  me.  I 
think  a  political  spirit  as  hurtful  to  the  life  of  God  in 
the  soul,  as  poison  is  to  the  bodily  frame. 

I  pray  the  Lord  to  bless  you  and  all  who  love  his 
name  in  Scotland,  whether  kirk,  circus,  relief,  burgli- 
ers,  antiburghers,  independents,  methodists,  or  by 
whatever  name  they  choose  to  be  called.  Yea,  if  you 
know  a  papist  who  sincerely  loves  Jesus,  and  trusts  in 
him  for  salvation,  give  my  love  to  him. 

The  religion  that  cometli  from  above,  thougli 
founded  upon  doctrines,  is  not  so  much  a  string  of 
sentiments,  in  a  system,  as  a  new  nature,  a  neiv  life. 
If  a  man  be  not  born  again,  it  signifies  little,  whether 
he  be  called  a  Calvinist,  or  an  Arminian  ;  whether  he 
belong  to  church,  or  kirk,  relief,  circus,  or  tabernacle. 
He  may  have  a  name  to  live  amongst  his  party  ;  but 
he  is  dead,  and  incapable,  as  to  spirituals,  as  the  stones* 
in  tlie  street.  On  the  other  hand,  if  he  be  born  from 
on  high,  he  is  a  new  creature  ;  and  tliough  he  may, 
for  a  season,  be  under  many  incidental  mistakes,  the 
grace  which  has  called  him,  will  prevail  over  all,  and 
teach  him,  in  due  time,  all  that  the  Lord  sees  needful 
for  him  to  know. 

Let  us  preach  the  deity  and  atonement  of  the  Sa- 
viour ;  the  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  the  dreadful 
evil  of  sin,  as  exhibited  in  the  sufferings  of  Christ, 
when  treated  as  a  sinner  for  our  sakes;  the  new 
birth  ;  and  the  nature  and  necessity  of  that  holiness, 
which   is  an  essential   part    of  salvation,   and  without 


FOllMAL    I'llEACHING.  255 

which  no  man  shall  see  the  I^ord.  These  points  will 
accord  with  the  feelings  of  all  who  are  truly  taught  of 
God;  and  if  in  some  things,  they  be  otherwise  minded, 
he  will,  in  due  time,  reveal  it  to  them  if  necessary. 
Thus  he  taught  us,  step  by  step,  showing  much  patience 
and  long  suffering  towards  us,  though  we  were  dull  scho- 
lars ;  and  thus,  may  we  learn  of  him  to  apeak  the  truth 
in  love. 

To  attack  human  depravity  with  philosophy,  or  line 
sentiments,  or  by  extolling  morality,  is  fighting  Goliali 
with  a  wooden  sword.  Christ  was  the  subject  of  Paul's 
preaching ;  and  no  man  did  more  good.  One  who 
preaches  Christ  should  knoiv  him.  Colleges  can  never 
make  np  the  want  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ.  With- 
out Christ,  ministers  may  amuse  their  audience,  per- 
haps send  them  away  admiring  the  sermon  ;  but  Paul 
would  have  thought  little  of  this.  Paul  warned  every 
man  ;  sinners,  of  hell ;  of  existing  continually  in  mi- 
sery, if  they  persisted  in  sin.  He  warned  good  men  of 
their  danger  of  being  taken  in  the  snare  of  the  devil ; 
thousands  of  unseen  enemies  surround  us. 

To  present  every  man  perfect,  is  not  sinless  per- 
fection ;  the  more  grace  a  man  has,  the  quicker  sensibi- 
lity he  has  about  sin ;  nor  is  it  the  perfection  of  an  an- 
gel, but  of  a  child,  who  has  all  the  parts  of  a  man,  but 
is  not  a  man.  A  perfect  Christian  has  all  the  parts 
of  a  Christian  ;  faith,  love,  humility,  &c.  Some  people 
confine  their  religion  to  devotional  exercises,  and  lay 
gTeat  stress  upon  it ;  but  these  are  not  perfect  Chris- 
tians— this  is  only  a  part  of  Christianity.  Some  are 
offended,  if  the  minister  detect  any  defect  in  their 
character;  but  a  Christian  is  thankful,  when  his  de- 
•fects  are  discovered  to  him. 

The  communion  of  saints  cannot  be  easily  made  in- 
telligible  to  the  world  ;  but  a  Christian  in  London  can 
rejoice  in  the  conversion  of  a  man  in  the  East  Indies, 
whose  face  he  never  saw,  nor  ever  expects  to  see,  on 
earth.  He  can  also  feel  for  a  congregation,  when  they 
have  a  faithful  pastor  removed   from  them   by  death  : 


256    rEOPOTlTION    OF    CHURCH    EVANCEIJCALS. 

though  not  personally  acquainted  with   any  one  person 
in  that  congregation. 

As  illustrating  the  present  low  state  of  piety  in  Eng- 
land, notwithstanding  its  national  church  estahlish- 
nrent,  it  may  be  noticed,  that  the  late  venerable  Tho- 
mas Scott  wrote  his  "Essays  on  the  most  important 
subjects  in  Religion,"  for  the  express  purpose  of  counter- 
acting the  preva'ding  infidelity  and  scepticism  ;  as  well 
as  to  give  a  distinct  view  of  the  grand  peculiarities,  and 
excellent  tendency  of  genuine  Christianity. 

According  to  JMr.  Newton,  there  were  not  one 
thousand  evangelical  clergymen  in  the  English  church 
establishment,  in  the  year  1801.  What  their  num- 
ber is  now,  I  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain  exactly ; 
but,  probably,  it  does  not  equal  the  number  of  ministers 
ejected  by  the  Bartholomew  act  of  1662;  seeing,  that 
if  at  the  end  of  sixty  years,  from  1740  to  1800,  less 
than  one  thousand  evangelicals  were  found  in  tlie  es- 
tablisliment ;  it  is  not  likely  that  a  greater  additional 
number  have  been  procured,  during  the  last  twenty 
years,  in  defiance  of  the  frowns  of  the  secular  govern- 
ment ;  and  in  spite  of  the  systematic  persecution  of 
the  hierarchy. 

God  grant,  that  such  clergy  may  increase ;  as  the 
only  means,  under  Providence,  of  averting  the  impend- 
p.ig  perdition  of  the  Anglican  state  church  ! 

In  the  month  of  October  1821,  the  Rev,  Charles 
Simeon,  when  present  at  a  meeting  of  the  Society  for 
promoting  Christianity  among  the  Jews,  held  at  Dor- 
chester, in  the  county  of  Dorset,  said  :  that  there  were 
.  then  between  two  and  three  hundi^ed  young  men,  at 
the  university  of  Cambridge,  in  training  for  orders, 
who  attended  upon  his  preaching  and  weekly  lectures  ; 
and  all  of  whom,  he  thought,  were  under  serious  im- 
pressions, and  evangelically  inclined. 

This  fact  appears  to  augur  well  for  the  best  inte- 
rests of  the  church  of  England.  But  //ow  are  pious 
young  men  to  obtain  'preferment  in  that  secular  esta- 


CHURCH    PREFERMENT.  257 

blishment ;  more  especially,  under  the  recently  aug- 
mented hostility  of  the  British  civil  government,  and 
its  episcopal  bencli,  generally,  against  all  evangelism  ? 
^Vn  hostility  quite  natural  in  formal,  unregenerate,  un- 
godly men ;  whether  laics  or  clerks.  And  hence,  for- 
maUsm  has  prevailed  in  the  English  church,  from  its 
first  full  introduction  by  Laud,  and  its  entire  consum- 
mation by  Sheldon,  to  tlie  present  hour.  During  the 
whole  of  which  period,  formal,  secular  churclimen  have, 
very  steadily,  received  the  protection  and  patronage  of 
the  state  government ;  to  the  almost  total  exclusion  of 
evangelical  ministers. 

Nor  is  this,  in  any  way,  marvellous ;  seeing,  as 
bishop  Burnet  expresses  himself,  in  his  exposition  of 
the  twenty-fifth  article,  "  the  greater  part,  both  of  the 
clergy  and  laity,  ever  were,  and  ever  will  be,  dep?'(wed 
and  corrupted ;  it  being  certain,  that  the  far  greater 
part  of  mankind  is  ahcaijs  bad,  we  must  conclude,  that 
the  evil  does  so  far  preponderate  the  good,  that  they 
bear  no  comparison  or  proportion  to  one  another."  Now 
the  men  who  have  composed  the  British  government, 
for  the  last  two  hundred  years,  have  been,  like  those 
who  have  wielded  the  other  governments  of  Christen- 
dom, very  generally  irreligious,  unconverted,  ?^;zregene- 
rate  men,  notwithstanding  their  regidar  baptism.  In 
general,  the  nearer  to  courts,  the  farther  from  Canaan  ; 
whatever  fawning  deans  or  bowing  bishops  think. 

But  the  Scriptures  tell  us,  the  carnal  or  unrenewed 
mind  is  enmity  against  God,  and  the  things  of  God, 
and  tlie  children  of  God ;  and,  consequently,  carnal, 
worldly,  secular  statesmen,  ministers  and  sovereigns, 
would  \ixeiQX  formalism  in  their  established  clergy,  be- 
cause it  checks  no  man's  conscience,  but  allows  him 
to  live  as  he  lists,  without  God  in  the  world ;  to  evan- 
gelism, which  insists  upon  a  holy  life,  as  the  only 
evidence  of  a  living  faith ;  alike  in  princes  and  poli- 
ticians, as  in  the  meanest  citizens  and  subjects.  A 
siifficient  reason  this,  in  itself,  against  a  political  alli- 
ance between  church  and  state  ;    because   it  iieccssa- 

s 


258  CHURCH    ORDINATION. 

rily   ensures    an    unevangelical,    unreligious   national 
clergy.  _  ,  ,       , 

Nay,  but  in  addition  to  the  dark  prospect  of  cluirch 
preferment,  hoxv  are  Mr.  Simeon's  young  evangelicals 
to  obtain  even  ordiiiation  at  the  hands  of  a  formal 
diocesan  ?  For  example,  what  pious  protestant  can- 
didate could  swallov^  the  captious  sophistry  of  the 
Peterborough  questions ;  avowedly  framed  to  stop 
the  ingress  of  evangelism  into  the  church  of  England? 
or  digest  the  double  justification  of  Dr.  Tom  line  ? 
or  bolt  the  baptismal  regeneration  of  Richard  Mant  ? 

But  neither  baptismal  regeneration,  nor  double 
justification,  nor  Peterborough  casuistry,  nor  any 
thing  else,  would  prove  the  least  impediment  to  the 
ordination  of  secular,  formal,  irreligious  candidates. 
The  doors  of  the  Anglican  Church  establishment  are 
always  open  for  the  admission  of  ministers,  who  are 
entire  strangers  to  the  grace  of  Christ ;  devoid  of 
Christian  knowledge;  lovers  of  pleasure,  more  than 
lovers  of  God ;  profane,  caring  for  no  man's  soul ;  com- 
panions of  the  unholy  ;  making  a  gain  of  godliness, 
and  entering  the  state  church  from  the  most  degrading 
motives,  that  they  may  revel  and  fatten  upon  its  re- 
venues ;  while  their  hearts  are  radically  hostile  to  the 
sacred  function  which  they  assume :  and  to  the  evan- 
gelical doctrines  of  the  church,  which  they  plunder  and 
disgrace. 

Are  such  ministers  calculated  to  promote  piety,  and 
prevent  paganism,  in  a  nation  ?  calculated  to  bring  man 
into  a  covenant  of  grace  with  his  offended  Maker,  when 
they  are  themselves  enemies  to  God  by  wicked  works? 
Are  the  mere,  careless  repetitions  of  a  form  of  prayer, 
and  the  hurried,  heartless  reading  of  a  printed,  or  a 
borrowed  sermon,  to  manifest  the  presence,  and  call 
down  the  grace  of  God,  upon  the  attendants  in  a 
parish  church  ?  What  an  awful  proportion  of  these 
episcopally  ordained  clerks  still  remain  in  the  gall  of 
bitterness,  and  in  the  bond  of  iniquity ;  and  go 
forth  to  take  possession    of  the  church  benefices  and 


CHUTSTIAN    OBSERVER.  259 

dignities ;  procured  for  thcin,  either  by  money,  in 
tlic  way  of  purchase  and  barter,  or  by  family  con- 
nexions and  interest,  or  by  political  influence  and 
exertion ;  for  what  ?  only  to  counteract  and  destroy 
tlie  beneficial  tendencies  of  the  Gospel,  with  whose 
precepts  and  principles,  their  whole  secular  lives  are 
at  variance ;  to  swell  the  triumphs  of  infidel  and  wick- 
ed men  ;  and  to  tread  in  the  foot-tracks  of  that  primi- 
tive bishop,  who,  after  he  had  swallowed  the  sop,  went 
out  and  betraved  the  Lord  of  life. 

Such  being  the  condition  and  direction  of  the 
English  ecclesiastical  establishment,  we  are  not  sur- 
prised at  the  general  prevalence  of  infidelity  and  ir- 
religion  in  England,  now,  after  nearly  three  hundred 
years  trial  of  the  experiment  of  a  state  church. 

The  proof  of  this  awful  and  alarming  state  of 
things,  in  England,  is  taken  from  the  most  unexcep- 
tionable source.  The  Christian  Observer  deserved- 
ly bears  a  high  character  for  talent,  and  learning, 
and  various  information.  And,  what  is  infinitely  bet- 
ter, it  is  truly  evangelical ;  and  as  such,  esteemed  by 
serious  persons  of  all  denominations  in  Christendom  ; 
and  reviled,  accordingly,  by  all  the  stoutest  forma- 
lists, in  these  United  States,  as  well  as  in  Eng- 
land. It  is,  also,  a  stanch,  able,  and  uniform  ad- 
vocate for  the  national  Anglican  Church,  by  law  es- 
tablished. 

A  more  estimable  body  of  men,  in  all  purity  of 
doctrine,  and  holiness  of  life,  than  the  evangelical 
clergy  of  the  church  of  England,  never  adorned  and 
blessed  the  earth.  And,  as  a  body,  they  are  most 
conscientiously  attached  to  the  establishment  of 
church  and  state,  under  which  they  have  been  born, 
and  trained  up,  and  live.  Whence,  theii^  statements 
of  the  general  condition  of  religion  and  morals  in 
Britain,  are  entitled  to  the  greater  weight,  because 
they  bear  directly  against  the  usefulness  of  that  very 
church  establishment  which  they  labour  to  uphold, 
and  to  extol.     A  witness  is  always  competent  to  testify 

s  2 


9G0  BIBT.E    SOCIETY. 

in  op}X)sition  to,  though  not  in  favour  of  his   own  in- 
terest. 

Does  the  English  established  church,  as  such,  en- 
courage the  efforts,  now  making  in  the  British  Isles, 
to  evangelize  the  heathen ;  to  diffuse  the  Gospel 
among  seamen ;  to  circulate  the  pure,  unsophisticated 
word  of  God,  without  note,  and  without  comment ;  to 
educate  the  universal  poor  of  England  and  of  Ire- 
land ? 

Nay,  but  does  not  the  far  greater  proportion  of 
that  state  church,  with  all  its  complicated  and  cum- 
bersome apparatus  of  archbishops,  and  bishops,  and 
deans,  and  canons,  and  prebendaries,  and  archdeacons, 
and  rectors,  and  vicars,  and  curates,  frown  upon,  and 
execrate  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society ;  the 
church,  and  other  missionary  institutions ;  the  Bethel 
union  ;  and  every  other  effort  made  to  evangelize  and 
to  instruct,  either  the  home  or  the  colonial  population 
of  Britain ;  as  well  as  the  inhabitants  of  foreiOT 
nations  ? 

Is  it  thus,  that  the  Anglican  Church  establishment 
promotes  piety,  and  prevents  paganism  among  the 
British  people  ?  Uoiv  many  English  and  Irish  bi- 
shops are  7iow  members  of  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society  ?  When  the  comparatively  few  pre- 
lates, that  belong  to  that  blessed  institution,  die,  will 
their  vacant  seats  be  filled  by  their  episcopal  successors? 
or  will  that  great  national  society  be  carried  on  in  all 
its  mighty  and  beatific  operations,  by  ?i07iepiscopalian 
denominations;  as  the  American  Bible  Society  2,S'  con- 
ducted in  these  United  States?  Are  missions,  at 
home  and  abroad  ;  are  the  Bethel  flags,  and  the  educa- 
tion of  the  poor  in  elemental  Christianity,  to  be  con- 
signed, altogethe7%  to  hands  other  than  those  of  the 
established  church  of  England  ? 

And  is  such  conduct  calculated  to  seat  an  expen- 
sive and  burdensome  church  establishment  deep  in 
the  heart  affections  of  the  British  people  ?  or,  does 
it  directly   tend   to   rouse    their  resistless    indignation 


ESTABLISHED    CHURCHES  261 

agaiust  a  state  macJiine,  whose  constant  operation  it  is 
to  crush  every  effort  made  to  promote  the  best,  the  im- 
mortal interests  of  the  human  race  ? 

The  evil  tendency  of  nil  churches  is  to  formnlism., 
^vhicll  extinguishes  all  spiritual-mindedness  and  prac- 
tical piety.  But  established,  national,  state  churches 
increase,  and  perpetuate  this  evil,  by  upholding,  with 
the  secular  arm,  the  church  walls,  priesthood,  and 
wages,  when  the  religion  is  gone  ;  and,  also,  by  pro- 
scribino;  the  o-rowth  of  evancrelism  in  other  dcnomina- 
tions,  as  well  as  in  the  dominant  sect.  Whereas,  m 
«7iestahlished  churches,  a  general  prevalence  of  formal- 
ism only  depletes,  and  destroys  the  formal  sect,  with- 
out injuring  the  community  at  large  ;  because  other 
denominations  are  left  at  full  liberty  to  build  them- 
selves up  in  strength  ;  and  to  fill  their  places  of  wor- 
ship, by  faitlifully  preaching  the  pure  Gospel,  and  by 
zealously  discharging  the  important  duties  of  the  pastoral 
ofllice. 

If  a  church  establishment  he  necessary  to  promote 
piety,  and  prevent  heathenism,  why  is  Ireland  7iow  so 
much  more  popish  and  paganish,  than  when  she  first 
experienced  the  blessings  of  her  present  protestant 
episcopal  established  church,  about  three  hundred  years 
ago? 

In  iVpril  1822,  sir  John  Newport  called  the  attention 
of  the  English  house  of  commons  to  the  deplorable  state 
of  Ireland.  During  the  debate,  Mr.  Charles  Grant, 
the  late  secretary  to  the  Irish  viceroy,  said  :  that  various 
petty  insurrections  had  agitated  the  peasantry  of  Ireland 
for  the  last  seventy  years.  They  generally  arose  out  of 
local  and  casual  circumstances.  Their  effect  has  been 
to  render  the  Irish  peasant,  in  a  great  degree,  indifferent 
to  all  the  danger  and  discomfort,  the  outrage,  violence, 
and  cruelty,  which  are  the  inseparable  attendants  upon 
popular  commotion. 

Without  property,  and  with  scarcely  any  of  the  com- 
forts of  home,  he  is  ever  ready  to  obey  the  summons  to 
insurrection,  in  which  he  has  nothing  to  lose ;  and  the 


262  CONDITION    OF    IREI-AND. 

personal  danger  of  which,  it  has  been  his  education,  and 
his  habit  to  despise.  In  this  state  of  feelings,  it  is  not 
wonderful,  that  the  severe  pressure  of  heavy  rents, 
tithes,  and  taxes,  general  and  local,  should  drive  the 
peasantry  to  despair^  and  produce  such  scenes  of  dis- 
order as  have  lately  been  witnessed  in  Ireland.  IMuch 
in  these  evils  is  altogether  beyond  the  power  of  the 
legislature  to  remedy. 

Mr.  Grant  called  upon  the  Irish  land-owners,  who 
spend  the  produce  of  their  estates  in  other  countries,  to 
return  to  that  station,  and  those  duties,  which  nature 
had  assigned  them  ;  to  apply  themselves  to  the  honour- 
able and  imperative  task  of  meliorating  the  condition  of 
those,  by  the  sweat  of  whose  brow  they  lived.  IMore 
was  to  be  eflPected  by  them,  in  rendering  the  Irish 
people  prosperous  and  happy,  than  could  be  done  by  a 
thousand  votes  or  enactments  of  the  British  parlia- 
ment. In  considering  what  could,  and  ought  to  be 
done  by  government,  he  thought  they  should  direct 
their  attention  to  the  improvement  of  the  police  and 
magistracy  ;  to  the  revision  of  the  tithe  system  ;  to  the 
liberal  support  of  schools  ;  and  to  the  removal  of  religious 
disabilities. 

It  would  be  well  for  the  British  people,  if  its  govern- 
ment would  profit  by  this  sound  advice  of  Mr.  Grant ; 
whicli,  doubtless,  so  far  as  it  goes,  would  materially 
benefit  Ireland,  if  carried  into  effect ;  and  in  ben efi ting- 
Ireland,  strengthen  the  whole  empire.  But  Mr.  Grant, 
as  an  eminently  pious  man,  knows  full  well,  that  no 
effectual  remedy  can  be  found  for  the  evils  of  Ireland, 
but  in  the  existence  of  an  evangelical  clergy ;  to  reclaim 
her  from  the  fatal  errors  of  popery,  and  the  gross  dark- 
ness of  heathenism.  The  continuance  of  2i  formal  state 
church  will  neutralize  and  palsy  every  effort  to  produce 
a  permanent  melioration  of  the  condition  of  the  Irish 
people.  Though,  doubtless,  the  removal  of  tithes,  and 
of  religious  disabilities,  will  be  of  service  ;  by  enabling 
oilier  denominations  to  spread  the  Gospel ;  even  if  the 
established  church  shall  dill  persist  in  stifling  every  ray 
of  evangelical  light. 


IllISH    STATE    CLERGY.  263 

It  greatly  behoves  the  British  government  to  bear  in 
mind,  that  the  monarchy  of  England  has  been  once, 
already,  overthrown,  by  the  mal-administration  and 
mal-conduct  of  a  formal  state  church. 

The  reader  is  referred  to  Mr.  Steven's  pamphlet, 
entitled,  "  Remarks  on  the  present  state  of  Ireland," 
for  some  very  important  information  respecting  the 
horrible  condition  of  that  fine  country.  He  says,  the 
vast  number  of  parishes  which  are  xvithout  any  resi- 
dent clergy,  is  an  obvious  hindrance  to  the  progress 
of  education,  if  not  of  piety  ;  and  cannot  fail  to  in- 
volve the  established  church  of  Ireland  in  a  solemn 
responsibility.  It  will  scarcely  be  credited,  that 
there  is,  at  this  very  time,  in  one  district,  a  space  of 
one  hundred  square  miles,  in  one  of  the  finest  counties 
of  Ireland,  in  which  there  has  neither  been  a  chuixh, 
nor  a  resident  clergyman,  within  the  memory  of 
man. 

But,  say  the  nonresident,  formal  state  clergy,  we  have 
no  cure  ; — there  are  few  or  no  protestants  in  the  parish. 
Pray,  gentlemen,  have  your  popish  parishioners  no 
souls  ?  And,  since  you  do  nothing,  nor  ever  even  see 
your  parishes,  I  ask,  in  the  name  of  reason,  of  religion,  of 
common  honesty,  if  you  have  no  cure,  why  do  you  exact 
your  tithes,  to  the  uttermost  farthing,  from  your  popish 
parishioners?  Thus  it  is,  however,  that  a  national 
church  establishment  promotes  piety,  and  prevents 
paganism. 

JNIr.  Steven  says,  that  the  papists,  in  strict  accord- 
ance with  their  dark  and  deadly  superstition,  have,  in 
some  places,  made  outrageous  opposition  to  the  esta- 
blishment of  protestant  schools.  In  one  place,  they 
burned  an  excellent  school-house,  and  a  master's  dwelling- 
house  ;  and  afterwards,  proceeded  to  card  the  master ; 
in  doing  which  they  broke  two  ribs  on  one  side,  and  one 
on  the  other  ;  so  that  his  life  was  despaired  of.  This 
diabolical  process  is  effected  by  driving  a  number  of 
nails  throu£i;h  a  hoard,  in  imitation  of  ViCard.  Thev 
strip  the  object  of  their  fury,  and  drag  this  instrument 
of  torture  up  and  down  the  bare  back,  till  the  ribs  and 


264  PAPAL    TYRANNY. 

back  bone  are  bared.    Mortification  and  death  frequently 
follow. 

In  a  multitude  of  instances,  the  whole  artillery  of 
the  popish  church,  as  far  as  it  is  allowed  in  Ireland, 
has  been  opened  on  the  unoffending  parents,  who  dared 
to  exercise  the  unalienable  right  of  disposing  of  their 
children  as  they  pleased.  Numbers  have,  notwith- 
standing, exercised  this  right ;  fearless  of  the  conse- 
quences, and,  in  face  of  threatenings  the  most  appalling, 
have  continued  their  children  at  the  schools  of  the 
Hibernian  Society;  others,  alarmed  and  terrified, 
with  grief  have  confessed,  that  they  must  withdraw 
them.  In  spite  of  all  obstacles,  arisbig  from  the  oppo- 
sition of  the  popish  clergy  to  the  diffusion  of  in- 
struction among  the  poor ;  and  from  the  criminal  in 
difference  and  negligence  of  the  protestant  established 
church ;  there  is  a  growing  desire  in  the  Roman 
catholic  peasantry  of  Ireland  for  the  education  of  their 
children. 

The  extent  of  papal  tyi'duny,  exercised  by  the  Romish 
priests,  in  Ireland,  even  now,  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
may  be  inferred  from  the  following  fact. 

Not  long  since,  an  action  was  brought  before  judge 
Day,  at  the  Cork  assizes.  The  plaintiff  was  Donovan, 
a  baker ;  the  defendant,  the  Rev.  Mr.  O'Brien,  popish 
priest  of  Clonakilty.  A  subscription  had  been  ordered 
by  this  priest,  to  build  a  popish  cliapel.  Donovan  was 
required  to  contribute  sixteen  shillings  and  sixpence  ; 
which  he  paid.  He  was  afterwards  called  upon  for  nine 
shillings  more,  which  he  also  paid,  but  said  he  was  very 
poor,  and  could  not  afford  it.  Soon  after,  the  priest 
demanded  sixteen  shillings,  which  Donovan  refused  to 
pay.  On  going  to  mass,  the  following  Sunday,  O'Brien 
asked  if  he  would  pay  the  sixteen  shillings  ;  he  answer- 
ed, he  was  not  able.  "  Then,"  quoth  the  priest,  "  I  will 
settle  you." 

Donovan,  terrified  at  this  threat,  sent,  by  his  wife, 
sixteen  shillings  to  O'Brien,  who  then  refused  to  take 
less  than  two  guineas.  On  the  next  Sunday,  tlie 
priest  czirsed,   from  the  altar,   all  who  had  not  paid  his 


CURE    OF    SOULS.  265 

demands  for  building  the  chapel.  JDonovan  went  on 
the  next  holy-day  to  mass,  and  was  formally  coccom- 
riiunicated,  and  the  people  denounced  as  cursed  and 
contaminated,  if  they  should  deal,  or  hold  any  com- 
munication with  him.  This  menace  was  so  effectual, 
that  not  one  of  the  country  people  would  sell  a  sod  of 
turf  to  Donovan,  to  heat  his  oven,  and  he  was  unahlc 
to  sell  his  flour  on  hand.  Reduced  to  despair  by  his 
forlorn  situation,  he  went  to  the  chapel  in  a  white 
sheet,  and  asked  pardon  of  God  and  the  priest,  for  his 
disobedience.  O'Brien  ordered  him  to  come  to  his 
honse,  where  he  again  demanded  two  guineas.  But 
Donovan  had  no  means  of  raising  the  money ; — the 
excommunication  was  continued  in  full  force ;  and  he 
was  obliged  to  shut  up  his  house.  The  jury  gave 
Donovan  a  verdict  of  fifty  pounds  damages. 

The  protestant  episcopal  state  clergy  of  Ireland 
have,  by  their  conduct,  so  well  proved  the  position 
assumed,  of  the  necessity  of  a  national  church  esta- 
blishment, to  promote  piety,  and  prevent  heathenism, 
that  now,  after  the  experiment  has  been  in  full  ope- 
ration nearly  three  hundred  years,  popery  and  pa- 
ganism have  been  positively  doubled,  and  relatively 
quadrupled;  while  protestantism  has  proportionally 
declined.  In  justice,  however,  to  the  Hibernian  state 
church,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  that,  during  these 
three  centuries,  its  clergy  have  been  very  punctual 
in  exacting  their  tithes,  and  every  other  source  of 
ecclesiastical  revenue.  They,  doubtless,  believing,  that 
they  have  tlie  cure,  without  the  care  of  souls;  as 
some  physicians  have  the  care,  without  the  cure,  of 
bodies. 

The  Christian  Observer  for  February  1822,  shows, 
that  England  herself  is  in  no  enviable  condition,  with 
regard  to  religion  and  morals,  even  at  this  advanced 
period  of  her  national  career ;  and  after  having  enjoyed 
for  so  long  a  series  of  ages,  all  the  benefits  of  a  state 
church  establishment. 

In  the  Review  of  pamphlets  on  the  infidelity  of  the 
times,    and   of    Dr.   Chalmers's  Civic   Economy,    the 


266  FORMAL    CHURCH    PREACHING. 

Christian  Observer  states — that  a  very  considerable 
portion  of  English  publications,  for  the  last  three  or 
four  years,  has  consisted  of  sermons,  tracts,  essays, 
reports  of  societies,  magazines,  and  miscellaneous  pam- 
phlets, issued  in  consequence  of  the  late  alarm  respect- 
ing tlie  inaxase  of  infidelity  and  blasphemy.  The 
recent  public  alarm  has,  indeed,  abated,  but  the  causes 
of  English  infidelity  still  remain.  And  the  radical 
newspapers  and  pedlar's  packs  still  continue  to  scatter 
the  seeds  of  impiety  and  rebellion  over  all,  even  the 
remotest,  corners  of  the  country. 

The  Rev.  J.  Ramsay,  of  Scotland,  in  examining 
the  causes  of  the  prevailing  infidelity,  attributes  it,  in 
the  first  place,  to  the  depravity  of  the  human  heart. 
A  real,  fundamental  cause  of  unbelief,  in  every  age ; 
but  which,  the  Christian  Observer  acknowledges,  is 
too  little  considered  by  many,  who  profess  to  be 
exceedingly  shocked  at  the  recent  explosions  of  infi- 
delity. Whence,  a  list  of  cold  arguments,  in  favour 
of  the  Gospel,  is  uttered  from  the  press  or  pulpit  ; 
as  if  only  the  understanding,  and  not  the  heart, 
were  concerned  in  the  production  of  infidel  opinions. 
Such  arguments  do  little  or  nothing  towards  eradi- 
cating the  evil.  If  the  established  clergy  mean  to 
banish  infidelity  from  their  parishes,  they  must  go  far 
deeper. 

They  must,  however  unfashionable  and  startling  it 
may  be  to  all  clerical  formalists,  preach  the  Scriptural, 
the  reformed,  the  protestant,  the  Anglican  Church 
doctrine  of  conversion ;  must  show  their  hearers  plainly, 
and  affectionately,  their  awfully  lapsed  condition  by 
nature ;  the  enormity  and  guilt  of  their  offences  before 
God ;  and  the  indispensable  necessity  of  a  real, 
radical  transformation  in  the  spirit  of  their  minds. 
There  are  few  theoretical  infidels,  especially  among 
the  poor,  where  such  points  of  evangelical  truth  have 
been  duly  impressed  upon  their  consciences.  The 
meagre,  tame,  formal,  half  Christianity,  which  is  always 
lingering  upon  the  threshold  of  elements,  and  evi- 
dences, of  order  and  ordinances ;    instead  of  beginning 


■  INFIDELITY SEDITION.  267 

with  couversioii,  and  going  on  to  perfection  ;  leaves 
the  mind  open  and  unguarded,  to  every  infidel  sug- 
gestion. 

The  preachers  who  either  deny,  or  keep  hack  the 
Scripture  doctrine  of  human  depravity,  and  original  sin, 
do,  in  effect,  help  fbrivard  the  scheme  of  infidelity. 
It  is  incumbent  upon  the  English  state  clergy  to  learn, 
how  essentially  necessary  is  a  knowledge  of  the  extent 
of  man's  natural  corruption,  to  the  right  inculcation, 
even  of  the  most  common  7no?^al  virtues.  Every  evil 
being  thus  traced  to  its  true  source,  the  value  and  ap- 
propriateness of  the  Scripture  remedies  would  be  more 
fully  felt ;  and,  as  with  the  heai^t  man  believeth  unto 
righteousness,  with  the  heart  would  every  minister 
begin,  both  in  urging  the  truth,  and  in  enforcing  the 
spirit  of  Christianity. 

iVnother  cause  of  the  present  prevailing  infidelity, 
is  stated  to  be  the  extensive  circulation  of  irreligious 
and  seditious  publications.  Infidelity  and  rebellion 
are  natural  companions.  Bible  Christians  are  7iot  apt 
to  be  disturbers  of  civil  government.  Hone,  in  his 
parodies,  struck,  alike,  at  the  religion  and  the  policy 
of  England.  And  so,  throughout  the  whole  mass  of 
blasphemous  and  seditious  publications,  lately  steam- 
ing their  hot  infection  from  the  Britisli  press,  the 
principles  of  duty  to  God  and  to  temporal  rulers  were 
indiscriminately  assailed ;  and  the  book  that  inculcates 
them,  was  reviled  and  ridiculed.  True  Christians, 
they  found,  could  not  be  seditious,  in  accordance  with 
their  professed  principles ;  and  the  religious  part  of 
the  poor  was  proof  against  all  incitements  to  rebel- 
lion. The  business  of  the  English  infidels,  there- 
fore, was  to  endeavour  to  put  down  the  Bible; 
as  preparatory  to  their  subversion  of  the  British  go- 
vernment. 

Christianity  has  been  always  assailed,  ever  since 
its  first  promulgation ;  but,  of  late  years  the  opposi- 
tion to  it  has  been  more  injurious,  because  it  has  been 
spread  over  a  larger  surface.  It  is  no  longer  confined 
to    men   of   education,    and  soi  dimnt   philosophers; 


268  ENGLISH    PUULIC    SCHOOLS. 

but  infidelity  now  appeals  to  the  passions  of  the 
populace,  and  labours  to  array  the  physical  against 
the  moral  force  of  nations.  The  antichristian  efforts 
of  the  French  infidels  are  well  known ;  and  the  con- 
tagion spread  into  Germany,  and  other  parts  of  con- 
tinental Europe ;  and  plays,  novels,  scientific  journals, 
periodical  publications,  and  children's  books,  were  all 
pressed  into  the  service  of  infidelity.  In  England, 
also,  sedition  and  irreligion  have  had  their  numerous, 
and  most  audacious  advocates,  from  Thomas  Paine  down 
to  Carlile. 

Another  cause  of  the  prevailing  modern  infidelity, 
in  Scotland,  Mr.  Ramsay  states  to  be,  the  defective 
religious  and  moral  education  of  the  poor.  He  says  : 
the  higher  classes  are  trained  up  in  the  fear  of  God ; 
and  taught  good  morals,  and  an  abhorrence  of  impiety 
and  revolution.  AVe  presume,  this  must  be  at  home, 
under  the  parental  roof;  for  the  Scottish  colleges,  and 
higher  seminaries,  have  not  been  very  remarkable,  of 
late  years,  for  inculcating  the  principles  and  precepts 
of  Christianity. 

But,  however  it  may  be  in  Scotland,  the  higher 
classes  in  England,  are  not  so  well  instructed  in  reli- 
gion, even  as  the  half  educated  poor.  J'^ery  feiv  of 
the  sons  of  the  English  nobility  and  gentry,  at  the 
great  academical  institutions,  could  contend  success- 
fully, upon  the  elemental  points  of  Christianity,  with 
the  children  of  their  father's  tenants  and  labourers, 
at  a  well  conducted  national  school.  i\nd  be  it  re- 
membered, that  these  great  academical  institutions 
are,  altogether,  under  the  control  and  guidance  of  the 
established  Anglican  Church  clergy ;  who  find  their 
way  from  those  seminaries,  into  the  high  benefices  and 
bishoprics  of  the  establishment ;  or,  sometimes,  U7iite 
in  their  own  persons  the  academic  masterships  and  the 
church  dignities ;  as,  for  example.  Dr.  Huntingford 
is,  at  once,  warden  of  Winchester  college,  and  lord 
bishop  of  Hereford. 

The  romantic  fondness  acquired   for   the  eivil  and 


KEl.IGIOUS    EDUCATION.  269 

ecclesiastical  establishments  of  England,  at  her  pub- 
lic seminaries,  is  often  far  removed  from  an  humble 
and  ingenuous  reception  of  the  Gospel,  as  the  rule  of 
faith  and  practice.  In  most  of  the  large  English  schools, 
whether  for  rich  or  poor,  religious  hiowlcdge,  not  duty, 
is  the  object  of  instruction.  A  momentous  consideration, 
7iotv,  that  so  large,  and  continually  increasing  a  portion 
of  the  British  population,  is  under  the  process  of  ele- 
mentary education  ;  for  on  the  character  of  this  wide- 
spread education,  depends  its  good  or  evil.  For  the 
])oor  to  be  able  universally  to  read,  is  not,  necessarily,  a 
benefit  to  themselves  or  others.  The  result  must  de- 
pend upon  the  way  in  wliich  knowled2,-e  is  acquired  ; 
upon  the  principles  inculcated,  and  the  liabits  formed, 
during  its  acquirement;  and  upon  tlie  ends  to  which  it 
is  directed. 

To  liJioic,  as  a  mere  fact,  who  was  Jesus  Christ,  will 
no  more  moralize,  or  Christianize  the  human  soul,  than 
to  know  who  was  Pharaoh,  or  Nebucliadnezzar.  A  7'e- 
Ugmis  education,  the  exigence  of  these,  nay,  of  all 
times,  demands.  Whence,  the  immense  importance  of 
Sunday  scliools.  The  Christian  Observer  cites  with 
approbation,  some  emphatic  passages  from  a  little 
pamphlet,  lately  published  by  the  committee  of  the 
Sunday  school  society  for  Ireland.  These  passages 
fully  prove,  in  spite  of  all  the  objections  urged  by  ilie 
formal  enemies  to  Sunday  scliools,  in  the  English  and 
Irish  state  church  establishments,  how  much  benefit 
these  institutions  have,  already,  actually  conferred  upon 
the  population  of  those  countries. 

An  education,  of  which  religion  is  not  the  basis,  only 
prepares  the  soil  for  the  worst  seed,  and  the  growth  of  a 
poisonous  crop,  baneful  to  man,  and  offensive  to  God. 
A  truly  Christian  education,  such  as  is,  generally,  the 
substratum  and  the  summit  of  Sunday  school  instruc- 
tion, is  the  best  possible,  nay,  the  only  guarantee,  for 
the  principles,  the  morals,  and  the  good  conduct,  of  the 
rising  generation ;  amidst  the  many  dangers,  to  wliich 
they  are  constantly  exposed,  in  an  age  of  free  opinions,. 


270  BRITISH    GOVERNMENT. 

and  under  the  influence  of  a  licentious  press,  per- 
petually inculcating  infidel  notions,  and  a  revolutionary 
spirit. 

After  examining  some  other  causes,  assigned  by  Mr. 
Ramsay,  for  the  present  alarming  prevalence  Q^injidelity 
and  profligacy,  in  Britain,  the  Christian  Observer  asks 
the  following  pithy,  and  pertinent  questions. 

Have  our  legislative  and  executive  bodies  been  alto- 
gether free  from  blame  ?  Has  all  been  done,  that  might 
have  been  done,  in  these  quarters,  to  check  the  pro- 
gress of  infidel  and  immoral  principles  ?  Have  nexv 
churches  been  built  equal  to  the  increased  wants  of 
the  population ;  or  sufficient  facilities  and  induce- 
ments afforded  for  building  them  ?  Have  the  public 
f>atrons,  of  lay,  and  still  more,  of  ecclesiastical  pre- 
ferment, been  sufficiently  attentive  to  making  tlieir  ap- 
pointments an  active  check  to  the  prevailing  evils;  and 
particularly,  by  nominating  to  the  cure  of  souls,  such 
men  only  as  have  deeply  at  lieart,  the  eternal  interests 
of  mankind  ? 

Has  due  care  been  taken  to  rescind  every  public  law, 
or  regulation,  that  tends  to  demoralize  the  people  ? 
Are  the  numerical  items  of  our  customs  and  excise 
deemed  of  less  moment  than  the  sober  and  virtuous 
habits  of  the  community  ?  Is  the  increase  of  the  re- 
venue by  lotteries,  dram-shops,  and  other  polluted 
sources,  felt  by  our  public  men,  to  be,  as  it  is,  a  curse, 
not  a  blessing  to  the  nation  ?  Has  the  sleepless  vigi- 
lance of  parliament  contrived  and  enforced  adequate 
measures,  for  giving  the  whole  mass  of  the  people  a 
plain  Christian  education  ?  or,  are  many  of  them  still 
left,  as  to  all  preventive  legislative  remedies,  to  the  un- 
mitigated influence  of  infidel  and  otlier  mischievous 
publications?  Have  our  poor  laws,  and  our  laws 
respecting  various  moral  offences,  been  duly  investigated, 
with  reference  to  their  bearing  upon  the  principles  and 
character  of  the  people  ?  But  we  forbear  to  press  our 
queries. 

The  Christian  Observer  cites  a  splendid  paragraph 
from  Dr.  Chalmers,  in  praise  of  the  erudition  of  the 


I.EAHXED    CLEPiGY.  271 

English  church  ;  to  the  justice  of  which  we  most  cor- 
dially assent ;  because  we  fully  believe,  that,  as  a  body, 
a  more  learned  community  has  not  appeared  iu  Chris- 
tendom, tlian  the  Anglican  state  clergy  have  shown 
themselves  to  be,  ever  since  the  blessed  era  of  the  Re- 
formation, to  the  present  hour.  The  Christian  Ob- 
server adds  some  able  remarks  on  the  importance  of  a 
learned  clergy,  and  on  the  high  theological  claims  of 
the  English  church  ;  in  which  we  mainly  coincide.  The 
following  passages  are  recommended  to  the  attention  of 
the  serious  reader. 

We  know  of  no  church  which  has  equal  claims,  as 
far  as  the  exterior  defences  of  religion  are  concerned. 
Nor  has  she  rendered  less  assistance  to  the  right  ex- 
position and  interpretation  of  Scripture.  Her  formu- 
laries are,  perhaps,  the  best  human  exposition  of  Scrip- 
ture ;  exhibiting  the  strictest  regard  to  truth,  and  the 
most  marked  spirit  of  toleration  ;  an  exposition,  which 
casts  debatable  points  into  the  shade,  and  gives  the 
highest  prominence  to  the  undebated  principles  of 
Christianity  ;  and,  consequently,  supplies  a  common 
ground,  on  which  opposing  parties  may  meet,  and  pro- 
ceed fo^h,  in  the  whole  armour  of  God,  to  contend 
with  the  common  enemies  of  their  faith. 

And  if  there  has  been,  as  we  are  bound  to  admit,  a 
painful  abandonment  of  these  formularies,  by  many  in- 
dividuals ;  there  have  not  been  wanting,  at  any  time, 
and  especially  now  there  are  not  wanting,  a  large  body 
of  churchmen,  true  to  the  spirit  and  temper  of  the  il- 
lustrious parent,  from  whose  lips  they  draw  the  lessons 
of  life  ;  and  under  whose  banner  they  go  forth  to  con- 
flict with  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  powers  of  dark- 
ness. 

May  the  great  Head  of  the  church  be  graciously 
pleased  to  augment  the  number  of  these  evangelical 
ministers  in  the  Anglican  establishment;  which  never 
more  needed  the  services  of  such  men,  than  at  this  try- 
ing crisis  of  her  career. 

The  Christian  Observer,  in  the  midst  of  his  eulo- 
gies  upon   the  erudition    of  the  church   of  England, 


272  CONVERTED    MINISTRY. 

does  not  forget,  tliat  piety  must  ever  precede  mere 
learning  in  all  Christian  efficacy  and  benefit.  He  con- 
siders it  scarcely  a  matter  of  discussion,  whether  a  con- 
verled  be  not  infinitely  more  useful  than  an  unconvert- 
ed ministry.  Very  few  unconverted  persons  ever  preach 
the  truth  at  all.  And,  even  where  doctrinally  correct, 
a  want  of  earnestness  and  feeling  characterizes  their 
labours,  and  diffuses  itself,  by  sympathy,  over  their 
hearers.  Besides,  the  lives  of  such  preachers  gene- 
rally tend  to  neutralize  or  vitiate  their  reasonings. 
Above  all,  it  is  only  to  the  honest,  simple,  believing 
minister  of  the  word  ;  to  the  preacher,  devoutly  seek- 
ing the  assistance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  any  p7'0- 
mise  of  such  assistance  is  made ;  and  it  is,  therefore, 
on  Ms  ministry  alone,  it  can  be  expected  ordinarily  to 
fall. 

The  success  of  a  hypocritical,  formal  ministry,  is  an 
exception,  not  a  rule.  The  success  of  the  true  prophet 
is  the  rule,  not  the  exception.  If,  therefore,  the 
question  be  proposed,  whether  more  is  to  be  expected 
from  learned  indiffei^ence,  or  unlettered  piety,  in  a 
minister  ;  we  no  more  hesitate  to  decide  for  the  latter, 
than  to  prefer  tlie  fishermen  of  Galilee  to  the  council  of 
Trent. 

Dr.  Chalmers  calls  upon  the  Wesleyan  methodists 
to  adopt  the  local  system,  and  carry  the  Gospel  into 
every  alley  and  cottage  of  Britain.  And  the  Chris- 
tian Observer  admits,  that  the  light  and  disposable 
force  of  that  body  supplies  extraordinary  facilities 
for  such  an  enterprise  ;  nay,  would  carry  on  the  Cos- 
sac  warfare  proposed,  better  than  would  the  heavy 
armed  troops  of  the  Anglican  establishment.  Rather 
than  the  work  of  moral  reform,  among  the  millions 
in  Britain,  now  ivithout  any  means  of  instruction, 
should  contimw  to  be  neglected,  we  heartily  desire  to 
see  it  in  the  hands  of  the  methodists,  or  of  any  otJier 
body,  who  will  supply  the  state  church's  lack  of  ser- 
vice. 

If  it  be  not  done  by  the  establishment,  perhaps  no 
body  would    do  it  better   than   the  Wesleyans.     The 


LONDON'    ClimiNAl-S.  27'} 

strictness  of  their  discipline,  their  rigid  system  of  in- 
s])ection,  their  singular  facilities  of  selecting  the  in- 
dividuals hest  suited  to  the  work ;  seem  to  constitute 
them,  //*  the  established  church  hangs  back,  suitable 
agents  for  so  extensive  an  undertaking.  But  the 
bushiess  of  locality  ought  co  be  taken  up,  in  good  ear- 
nest, by  tlie  national  church  ;  of  whose  formularies 
few  complain,  and  the  revival  of  whose  discipline  all 
desire.  The  Christian  Observer  implores  the  An- 
glican Church  to  awake  from  her  sleep  of  ages  ;  and 
to  go  forth  for  the  recovery  of  her  people  from  the 
depths  of  vice  and  ignorance,  into  which  they  have 
sunk. 

The  existing  condition  of  the  country,  more  espe- 
cially of  its  immense  metropolis,  cannot  be  contem- 
plated without  horror.  Ten  thousand  individuals  have 
passed  through  a  few  principal  prisons  of  London,  in 
one  single  year.  IMyriads  of  children,  in  its  courts  and 
allcvs,  subsist  altogether  u})on  depredation.  Hundreds 
of  thousands,  in  spite  of  all  the  laudable  exertions  of 
the  national,  and  other  benevolent  societies,  are  still 
destitute  of  Christian  education.  Crime  has  so  mas- 
tered the  existing  means  of  improvement,  that  its 
circle  continually  widens,  and  deepens,  on  every  side. 
The  race  of  benevolence  after  sin  and  misery,  is,  at  the 
jrresent  moment,  that  of  the  tortoise  after  the  hare. 

If  the  English  people  now,  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, be  so  irreligious  and  immoral,  as  thus  repre- 
sented by  the  Christian  Observer ;  is  it  not  conclusive, 
that  the  great  body  of  the  established  clergy  have 
been  long,  and  arc  now,  grossly  negligent  in  the 
discharge  of  their  all-important  duties ;  have  long 
been,  and  are  now,  any  thing  but  faithful,  zealous, 
efficient,  evangelical  preachers,  and  pastors  ?  The  facts 
and  observations  would  apply  still  more  forcibly  to 
the  conduct  of  the  state  clergy  in  Ireland.  Scotland 
is  directed  by  an  ecclesiastical  establishment,  on  a, 
smaller  and  a  simpler  scale,  less  splendid,  less  im- 
posing, less  expensive,  less  burdensome  to  the  com- 
munity,    than    the    Anglican    and    Hibernian  hier- 

T 


i>74  CHURCH  neciligence. 

archies;  with  what  effect,  in  promoting  piety,  and 
preventing  heathenism,  may  be  the  subject  of  future 
inquiry. 

Is  such  an  alarming  state  of  irreligion  and  immoral- 
ity, as  now  pervades  England,  a  proof  of  the  position 
assumed  by  Mr.  Wilks,  Mr.  Wilberforce,  Dr.  Chal- 
mers, the  Christian  Observer,  and  many  other  dis- 
tinguished writers ;  that  a  state  church  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  preserve  religion  alive  in  a  country  ;  and 
to  prevent  its  inhabitants  irom  degenerating  into  pagan 
darkness  and  idolatry  ? 

In  these  United  States,  where  7io  national  church 
establishment  exists,  we  certainly  have  no  such  widely 
spread  infidelity  and  profligacy  as,  issuing  from  Hone, 
Cobbet,  Carlile,  and  their  disciples  and  followers,  con- 
tinually threaten  to  lay  in  blood  and  ruins  all  that  is 
venerable  and  valuable  in  the  British  empire;  and 
must,  eventually,  so  destroy  it,  unless  checked  by  a 
counter  current  of  pure,  evangelical  piety.  For  mere 
legislative  enactments,  however  seconded  by  fine,  or 
imprisonment,  or  the  gallows,  or  a  formal,  secular  state 
clergy,  slumbering  in  monkish  apathy,  and  gowned 
ease,  over  the  moral  desolation  of  their  country  ;  can 
never  do  aught  to  reform  a  corrupted  and  rebellious 
people. 

Let  the  eleven  thousand  places  of  worship  in  the 
Anglican  Church  establishment,  be  filled  with  evan- 
gelical incumbents;  let  the  stalls,  and  dignities,  and 
palaces  be  filled  with  evangelical  deans,  and  bishops, 
and  archbishops ;  all  faithfully  discharging  their  sacred 
duties,  as  ministers  of  the  everlasting  Gospel;  and 
England  will  soon  be  freed  from  all  alarm  respecting 
the  infidelity  and  profligacy,  which  now  menace  the 
speedy  perdition  of  all  her  civil  institutions,  and  social 
order. 

Let  it  be  remembered,  likewise,  that  all  this  wicked- 
ness belongs  emphatically  to  the  establishment.  It 
constitutes  an  integral  part  of  the  state  church,  which 
claims  the  whole  nation  as  her  own,  excepting  only 
those  individuals,  who,  under  the  shelter  of  the  tolera- 


CHUllCH    CHARACTEll.  275 

tion  act,  enrol  themselves  as  meinl^ers  of  some  dissent- 
ing communion.  But  no  evangelical  dissenters  will 
receive  into  their  body  any  infidel,  or  immoral  person  ; 
and  if  any  member  of  their  churches  become  immoral 
or  infidel,  he  is  forthwith  expelled  from  their  commu- 
nity, and  returns  into  the  mass  of  the  nation,  to  fur- 
nish his  quota  towards  forming  the  general  character 
of  the  English  protestant  episcopal  church,  by  law 
established. 

Accordingly,  the  parliamentary  divorce  bills  are  not 
obtained  by  the  evangelical  dissenters  of  England, 
whether  presbyterian,  or  congregational,  or  methodist, 
or  baptist ;  but  they  are  procured,  in  countless  numbers, 
by  the  noble  and  the  gentle,  the  titled  and  the  un- 
titled patrons,  protectors,  and  supporters  of  the  An- 
glican Church  establishm.cn t.  And  so,  of  otlier  fla- 
gitious crimes,  as  theft,  robbery,  rebeiiion,  forgery, 
murder,  conspiracy,  assassination ;  these  do  not  find 
their  perpetrators  and  abettors,  among  the  dissenting 
evangelicals;  but  among  the  stanch  members  of  the 
church  of  England  ;  who,  wliile  they  are  convulsing 
society  to  its  centre,  by  their  crimes  and  villanies,  rail 
against  separatists,  and  sectaries,  and  schismatics,  with 
all  the  rancour  of  a  formal  bishop. 

No ;  a  nation  is  not  evangelized  by  a  secular  state 
church,  but  by  real,  vital  Christianity ;  not  Christianity 
corrupted  and  darkened  by  popish  superstition,  or  diluted 
and  debased  by  cold-blooded,  heartless  philosophism, 
or  interwoven  with  national  establishments  for  political 
purposes  ;  but  Christianity  as  taught  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament, and  practised  by  the  faithful  followers  of  their 
Lord  and  Master. 

Doubtless,  the  outward  profession  of  nominal  Chris- 
tianity, is,  in  numberless  instances,  adopted  by  worldly 
men,  nay,  by  determined  infidels,  to  forward  their 
own  schemes  of  policy.  Finding  the  bulk  of  the 
people  inclined  to  the  Christian  religion,  under  some 
particular  form  of  church  order,  or  discipline ;  they 
deem  it  political  wisdom,  to  give  this  particular  sect 
a    state    establishment,    and    to    allow    its    clergy   a, 

T  a 


276  CIIUECII    PATUONS. 


share  in  the  civil  govenuTient.  Hence,  religion  is 
converted  into  a  mere  engine  of  state  policy ;  and 
the  established  church,  as  a  matter  of  course,  fill- 
ed with  a  formal,  secular,  irreligious,  persecuting 
clergy. 

The  politician  may  plume  himself  upon  his  own 
sagacity  and  skill  ;  and  the  clergy  may  be  delighted 
with  their  worldly  honours,  and  their  immense  reve- 
nues ;  and  the  people  themselves  may  be  so  uneducated, 
and  so  ignorant,  as  to  receive  churchmanship  in  lieu  of 
Christianity ;  but  deep  and  deadly  gashes  are  inflicted 
upon  pure  and  undefiled  religion.  Hence,  the  church, 
at  an  early  period,  ceased  to  be  the  bride  of  Christ ; 
and  became  the  mother  of  harlots,  the  established 
protector  and  promoter  of  all  iniquity  and  abomina- 
tion. Whatever  good  may  be  done  in  such  com- 
munities, is  done,  not  in  consequence,  but  in  spite  of 
their  ecclesiastical  establishments ;  is  done  by  pious 
individuals,  acting  in  direct  contradiction,  if  not  in 
open  opposition,  to  the  whole  course  and  current  of  the 
state  church. 

A  large  proportion  of  every  nation,  if  it  suits  their 
temporal  convenience,  adopt  the  prevailing  religion ; 
or,  in  other  words,  have  no  personal  religion.  More 
especially,  the  courts  and  cabinets  of  kings  and  princes, 
notwithstanding  Christianity  may  have  been  the  esta- 
blished religion  of  the  land,  have  been  generally  filled 
by  a  far  greater  proportion  of  mere  worldly  formalists, 
if  not  of  open  and  avowed  infidels,  than  of  evan- 
gelical Christians;  and,  in  consequence,  the  public 
measures,  both  of  state  and  church,  have  taken  a 
corresponding  direction.  Nobility,  and  gentry,  and 
courtiers,  and  politicians,  are  very  apt  to  consider 
religion,  as  an  affair  quite  beneath  the  consideration 
of  their  rank,  and  wealth,  and  fashion,  and  wisdom  ; 
as  a  matter,  suited  only  to  the  poor,  and  vulgar, 
and  uninstructed,  and  ignorant.  They,  therefore, 
either  absent  themselves  altogether  from  public 
worship ;  or,  only  attend  on  state  occasions,  to 
save    appearances    towards    the   national    church    esta- 


RECAriTULATION.  277 

blishmeiit,  oi  whose  patronage  they  are  themselves  the 
j^rcat  proprietors ;  and  whose  bishoprics  and  benefices 
they  allot  as  easy  and  splendid  provisions  for  the  younger 
branches  of  their  own  families. 

It  cannot  fail,  whenever  any  particular  Christian 
denomination  is  adopted  by  the  secular  government,  as 
the  established  state  sect,  but  that  numbers  of  unprin- 
cipled, wicked  men,  will  profess  themselves  stout  mem- 
bers of  the  dominant  communion  ;  and  help  to  corrupt 
and  degrade  its  character.  Hence  the  pure  Gospel 
scheme  is  thrust  aside,  to  make  way  for  some  more 
accommodating  worldly  system;  the  holy  prece])ts  of 
Christian  morality  are  lowered  to  the  corrupt  stand- 
ard of  ordinary  practice ;  and  the  worship  and  ordi- 
nances of  Christ  are  debased  by  superstition,  and 
modelled  ^to  suit  the  prevailing  views  of  political 
rulers.  Thus  Judaism  was  corrupted  by  the  formal 
Pharisees;  and  Christianity  overlaid  by  the  papal 
liierarchy. 

To  sum  up  the  whole  of  the  preceding  argument,  in 
a  few  words;  ?/  Christianity,  during  the  first  three 
centuries  of  its  existence,  spread  on  all  sides,  and 
flourished  ;  not  only  without  the  aid,  but  against  the 
determined  hostility  and  persecution  of  the  secular  go- 
vernment ;  and  if,  after  it  was  welded  into  the  state  it 
became  carnal  and  corrupted  ;  if,  to  use  the  words  of 
one  of  the  foremost  of  all  living  divines,  the  policy  of 
Constantine,  which  secularized  her  form  ;  his  profusion, 
which  corrupted  her  virtue  ;  and  the  meretricious  attire, 
which  banished  her  modesty,  prepared  her  for  rapid  in- 
fidchties  to  her  Lord,  and  for  her  final  prostitution  to 
the  Man  of  Sin ;  and  if,  from  the  fifth  centurv  may  be 
dated  that  career  of  shame,  which,  jiarticulaily  in  the 
western  empire,  she  ran,  with  wild  incontinence,  through 
the  niglit  of  the  dark  ages,  until  she  was  branded  from 
above,  as  the  mother  of  harlots  and  ahominations  of  the 
earth :  '^ 

If,  after  the  experiment,  during  the  long  period  of 
nearly  three  hundred  years,  of  a  protestant  episcopal 
state    church,    Ireland   is   now   more  heathenish,  and 


27S  RECAPITULATION. 

more  popish,  than  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth  —  if,  after 
the  same  protracted  length  of  experiment,  in  England, 
there  be  more  evangelical  religion  and  vital  piety  out 
of,  than  in  the  national  church  establishment — if  the 
Anglican  state  church  has  always  been,  to  the  extreme 
extent  of  her  pov/er,  a  persecuting  church  ;  persecuting 
the  dissenters  without  mercy  and  without  measure,  so 
long  as  the  cruel  and  iniquitous  enactments  of  her  legi- 
timate heads,  and  sanctimonious  pontiffs,  Elizabeth,  and 
the  four  Stuarts,  permitted ;  and,  7iOW  that  the  toleration 
act  of  William  rescues  the  nonconformists  from  her 
fangs,  persecuting  by  suspension,  by  calumny,  by  famine, 
the  evangelical  clergy  within  the  pale  of  her  own  com- 
munion : 

And  finally,  if,  during  the  period  of  the  Anglican 
church  establishment's  greatest  power  and  influence,  to 
wit,  from  the  restoration  of  the  infamous  and  execrable 
Charles,  down  to  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
infidelity  and  profligacy  were  constantly  widening  their 
horrible  circle  in  Britain  ; — and  if  the  English  state 
church  has  always  laboured,  and  does  now  labour,  inces- 
santly, to  oppose,  and  crush  every  revival  of  pure,  un- 
defiled,  Scriptural  Christianity,  in  her  own  bosom,  and 
among  her  own  children  ;  Itoiv  do  her  advocates  prove 
the  necessity  of  a  national  church  establishment,  in  order 
to  promote  piety  and  prevent  paganism  in  a  country  ? 

Nay,  but  the  voice  of  universal  history,  and  of  all 
human  experience,  proclaims,  in  the  loudest  and  most 
intelligible  language,  that  it  is  very  possible  to  have  a 
national  church  establishment,  without  religion  ;  as  it 
is  quite  certain  a  people  may  have  religion,  without  a 
national  church  establishment.  And  the  irresistible 
inference  is,  that  if  evangelism  he  flourishing  in  Eng- 
land, it  flourishes  there  not  in  consequence,  but  in  spite 
of  her  established  church.  In  like  manner  as  if  the 
British  empire  be  flourishing  in  its  agriculture,  manu- 
factures, commerce,  and  general  concerns,  it  flourishes 
in  spite,  and  not  in  consequence,  of  her  enormous  pub- 
lic debt,  and  her  most  oppressive  burden  of  universal 
taxation. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Oil  the  An^illcun  Church  EstahUshment. 


•^to' 


Pkrhaps  the  most  extraordinary  portion  of  Mr. 
AV^ilks's  book,  is  that  in  which  he  adduces  the  low  con- 
dition of  religion  in  these  United  States,  as,  at  once, 
a  proof  and  an  ilkistration  of  his  main  position ; 
that  a  national  church  establishment  is  7iecessary  to  pre- 
serve a  Christian  country  from  lapsing  into  heathenism. 

In  pages  78 — 83,  of  "Correlative  claims  and  du- 
ties," iMr.  Wilks  says— that  the  case  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  furnishes  another  strong  negative 
example  on  this  subject.  There  is  nothing  like  a 
regulcir  and  adequate  state  provision  for  the  Chris- 
tian instruction  of  the  people  in  any  part  of  the 
Union ;  and  the  effects  of  this  deficiency  are  but  too 
visible  in  the  languishing  ^i^te  of  religion,  in  most  parts 
of  that  extensive  territory.  Yet  even  in  the  United 
States  themselves,  partial  legislative  enactments,  in 
favour  of  religion,  have  been,  from  time  to  time,  found 
necessary;  which  enactments,  the  civil  magistrate  is 
bound  to  support,  and  the  public  purse  to  carry  into 
effect. 

From  a  table,  drawn  up  a  few  years  since,  showing 
the  provision  for  religious  instruction,  in  the  states  of 
New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Con- 
necticut, New-York,  New-Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  De- 
laware, Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South 
Carolina,  Georgia,  Vermont,  and  Kentucky,  it  ap- 
pears, that  ten  out  of  fifteen  of  these  states,  have  110 
provision  for  the  maintenance  of  religious  instructors  ; 
but  the  other  five  have  a  partial,  or  full  provision. 
Eight  have  no  religious  creed ;  the  others  use  a  formal 
test ;  namely,  three  require  a  belief  in  God  ;  one,  faith 


280  NECESSITY    OF    STATJ:    CIIUJiCH. 

in  the  Gospel ;  two,  faith  in  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments ;  four,  faith  in  the  protcstant  religion. 

To  this  add,  that  chaplains  are  appointed  for  the 
army  and  navy,  and  paid  from  the  public  purse  ;  and 
strict  orders  are  issued,  under  severe  penalties,  for  the 
attendance  and  decent  behaviour  of  the  soldiers  at 
divine  worship.  Profane  cursing  and  swearing  are 
also  punishable.  Thus  the  United  States  of  America, 
without  verhally  allowing  of  church  establishments, 
and  though  thinking  it  unconstitutional,  to  speak 
of  the  Divine  Providence,  in  their  united  capacity, 
as  some  of  the  states  may  not  acknowledge  such  a 
doctrine ;  yet  have  felt,  in  practice,  the  absolute  ne- 
cessity of  acting  upon  some  of  the  most  contested 
principles,  upon  which  national  church  establishments 
are  founded ;  and  individual  states  have  gone  even 
further. 

That  there  is  so  little  religion  throughout  the  Union 
is  7iot  to  be  wondered  at,  when,  in  addition  to  other  causes 
which  have  considerable  influence,  we  recollect  how 
scanty  and  parsimonious  are  the  public  means  of  instruc- 
tion in  almost  every  state  ;  but  that  little  would  probably 
have  been  less,  had  there  been  no  publicly  recognized 
means  at  all. 

But  America  is  a  new  country ;  and  some  years 
must  elapse  before  the  general  effect  of  its  present 
system  can  be  fully  developed.  It  is  devoutly  to  be 
hoped  that  long  before  that  period  shall  arrive,  the 
necessity  of  a  church  establishment  will  be  sufficiently 
felt  among  all  classes,  to  induce  the  legislature  to 
carry  into  effect  some  adequate  provision  for  that  pur- 
pose ;  if  not  on  the  higher  ground  of  duty,  as  Chris- 
tians, and  from  an  anxious  concern  for  their  own 
souls,  and  tliose  of  their  countrymen ;  yet,  at  least, 
on  the  principles  of  political  expediency,  and  civil  de- 
corum. 

It  would  be  more  difficult,  than,  perhaps,  INIr. 
Wilks  imagines,  on  such  an  assumption,  to  determine 
xvhich  should  be  the  dominant  state  sect.  Certainly  it 
would  not  be   the   American- Anglo-Church  ;  and   the 


BKITISII    llEYIEW.  281 

})olitical  precedency  could  not  easily  be  settled  among 
the  prcsbyterians,  congregationalists,  methodists,  and 
ba])tists. 

JNIr.  Wilks  cites  the  British  Review  of  INIr.  War- 
den's book,  as  materially  aiding  his  own  chief  posi- 
tion. The  Reviewer  says :  all  our  readers  are  aware, 
that  in  the  United  States  of  America  there  is  7io  es- 
tablished church ;  but  we  are  perfectly  convinced, 
that  were  they  familiar  with  the  7'eal  situation  of  that 
extensive  country,  in  regard  to  the  means  of  Chris- 
tian knowledge,  they  would  not  approve  of  the  expe- 
riment, of  which  these  federated  republics  have  set 
the  first  example,  of  leaving  tliat  important  concern 
to  the  discretion  or  caprice  of  the  multitude.  In  some 
of  the  states,  it  is  left  entirely  to  the  option  of  the 
people,  whether  they  shall  have  clergymen  and  churches 
at  all ;  or  whether,  with  the  name  of  Christians, 
they  shall  live  like  the  rudest  islander  in  the  Pacific 
ocean  ;  and  it  gives  us  pain  to  remark,  that  in  the 
southern  parts  of  the  Union,  the  Sabbath  is  never 
sanctified  by  a  large  majority  of  the  inhabitants  ;  and 
the  rites  of  our  most  holy  faith  are  scarcely  ever 
practised. 

In  the  northen  states,  indeed,  more  attention  is  paid 
to  the  ordinances  of  religion.  A  tax,  for  the  support 
of  a  certain  number  of  ministers  and  chapels,  is  levied 
in  all  the  New-England  states,  the  amount  of  which 
is  divided  among  the  several  denominations  of  Chris- 
tians, according  to  the  number  of  churches  which  they 
keep  open  for  public  worship.  Now,  inasmuch  as 
this  tax  is  compulsatory,  it  recognizes  the  principle 
upon  which  establishments  are  founded ;  namely,  a 
power  in  the  government  to  provide  for  religious  in- 
struction and  public  worship  ;  a  principle  completely  at 
variance  with  JMr.  Warden's  maxim,  that  religion  is 
one  of  the  natural  wants  of  the  human  mind ;  and  in 
an  enlightened  age  requires  no  aid  from  the  civil  magis- 
trate. 

Laissez  nous  fair  e,  is  a  good  rule  for  practical  men, 
who   preside    over  manufacturing  and  commercial  in- 


282  AMERICAN   RELIGION. 

dustry  ;  but  in  reference  to  those  grand  institutions, 
calculated  to  form  the  public  mind,  and  implant  moral 
principles  ;  to  preserve  the  purity  of  our  faith,  and  to 
keep  the  soul  true  to  its  great  Author ;  it  is  more  pru- 
dent to  be  guided  by  experience,  than  by  any  abstract 
theory  of  political  economy.  We  are  borne  out  in 
this  opinion  by  the  real  condition  of  the  United  States, 
in  the  matter  of  religion.  We  find  in  Mr.  Warden's 
own  pages  a  statement,  foundetl  upon  some  investiga- 
tions and  calculations  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Beecher,  which 
affords  the  melancholy  intelligence,  that  out  of  eight 
millions,  the  computed  amount  of  the  American  peo- 
ple, ^y^  millions  of  persons  are  destitute  of  competent 
religious  instruction. 

Assuming  that  there  ought  to  be  a  clergyman  for 
every  thousand  souls,  the  proportion  in  Great  Britain 
is  one  minister  to  eight  or  nine  hundred  souls,  {not  in 
the  established,  or  state  churches,)  Mr.  Beecher  assures 
us,  that  in  JMassachusetts  there  is  a  deficiency  of  one 
hundred  and  seventy-eight  competent  religious  teachers. 
In  Maine,  only  half  the  population  is  supplied  with 
religious  instruction.  In  New- Hampshire,  the  de- 
ficiency is  one-third.  Vermont  is  nearly  in  the  same 
situation.  In  the  western  parts  of  Rhode  Island,  em- 
bracing a  territory  fifty  miles  long,  and  thirty  broad, 
and  including  half  the  population,  there  is  but  one  re- 
gularly educated  minister ;  and  but  ten  in  the  other 
parts. 

In  Connecticut,  out  of  two  hundred  and  eighteen 
congregational  churches,  thirty-six  are  vacant ;  and 
of  all  other  denominations,  sixty-eight  are  vacant. 
In  New- York  the  actual  number  of  pastors  is  about 
five  hundred  ;  its  population  of  a  million  requires 
double  that  number.  In  New-Jersey  there  is  a  de- 
ficiency of  at  least  fifty  pastors.  In  Pennsylvania  and 
Delaware,  the  deficiency  is  very  considerable.  Vir- 
ginia, with  a  population  of  974,000,  has  but  sixty 
regular  ministers  ;  consequently  nine  hundred  and 
fourteen  thousand  persons  are  without  adequate  reli- 
gious instruction.     The  situation  of  IMaryland  is  si- 


DR.   bekciiek's  calculations.  283 

milar  to  that  of  ^"irginia.  North  Carolina,  with  a 
population  of  555,500,  requiring  550  clergymen,  has 
but  twenty.  South  Carolina,  which,  with  a  popula- 
tion of  400,000,  ought  to  have  400  pastors,  has  but 
thirty-sioc.  The  state  of  Georgia  has  but  teri  clergy- 
men. 

So  far  JNIr.  Wilks  and  the  British  Review.  It  is, 
to  be  sure,  an  unquestionable  verity,  that  Dr.  Beecher 
has  given  a  very  doleful  view  of  the  condition  of 
religion  in  these  United  States.  And,  from  his  as- 
sumptions, the  reverend  calculator  concludes,  that  un- 
less some  effectual  effort  be  made  to  diffuse  the  light 
of  Christianity  throughout  the  Union,  by  the  time  we 
have  seventy  millions  of  people,  sixty-four  millions 
of  them  will  be  without  any  religious  ordinances.  In 
consequence  of  which,  all  the  best  political  institu- 
tions of  the  country,  will  fall  an  easy  sacrifice  to  the 
corrupt  preponderance  of  infidel  votes  ;  those  people 
being  the  worst  of  all  abandoned  profligates,  who 
live  in  a  Christian  communitv,  but  live  in  the  ha- 
bitual  neglect,   contempt,    and  rejection  of  the  Gospel. 

Of  this  last  position  there  can  be  no  doubt.  But  a 
large  deduction  is  to  be  made  from  Dr.  Beecher's  cal- 
culations ;  so  far,  at  least,  as  relates  to  their  fatal  au- 
gury for  the  future.  He  counts  only  regular  clergy  ; 
all  the  rest  go  for  nothing  with  him.  By  regular  cler- 
gy, however,  he  docs  not  intend,  as  do  our  high  church 
formalists,  to  designate  merely  the  episcopal  priest- 
hood, for  this  profound  and  celebrated  Connecticut 
divine,  is  himself  a  stout  congregationalist ;  but  such 
only,  as  have  been  regularly  trained  to  the  ministry 
of  reconciliation,  at  some  academic  institution,  or  col- 
lege ;  whether  at  Harvard,  Princeton,  Yale,  or  else- 
where. 

Now,  within  the  limits  of  this  calculation  are  7iot 
included  all,  even  of  the  independent,  presbyterian,  and 
episcopal  clergy,  throughout  the  Union.  And  they  do 
7iot  comprehend  any  of  the  three  thousand  irregular 
baptist  preachers  ;  the  one  thousand  travelling,  and  the 
four  thousand  local  preachers,  among  the  mcthodists : 


28^         rilOPORTION    OF    AMERICAN    CLERGY. 

both  of  whom,  as  religious  bodies,  preach  the  Gospel 
faithfully  and  successfully,  to  the  conversion  and  sal- 
vation of  sinners ;  the  baptists,  as  Calvinists  ;  the  me- 
thodists,  as  Arminians.  Deduct  the  services  of  all  but 
college-bred  ministers  in  England,  and  the  religion  of 
that  country  will  be  in  a  very  small  way.  The  clergy  of 
all  arms,  in  the  United  States,  may  be  thus  counted, 
in  round  numbers : 

American- Anglo-Church,  or  protestant  episco- 
pal, 300 
Presbyterian,  since  their  late  junction,  1,'iOO 
Congregational,  or  independent,  1 ,600 
Baptists,  chiefly,  particular,  some  general,  3,000 
Methodists,  travelling  preachers,  1,000 
local  preachers,  4,000 
All  other  denominations,  including  papists,  ()00 

Total  of  American  clergy  in  1822,     11,800 

Say  eleven  thousand  eight  hundred,  which  gives  more 
than  one  clergyman  to  every  thousand  souls,  even  com- 
puting the  population  of  the  United  States  at  ten  mil- 
lions. The  established  clergy  of  England  and  Wales, 
are  about  eleven  thousand ;  at  least,  the  number  of 
parishes  is  ten  thousand ;  and  the  places  of  public  wor- 
ship in  the  state  establishment  are  eleven  thousand. 
What  amount  of  supernumerary  clerks,  7iot  attached 
to  any  cure,  or  place  of  worship,  may  exist  in  the  An- 
glican Church,  I  know  not ;  but  they,  surely,  do  no- 
thing to  evangelize  the  people ;  to  impart  to  them 
religious  instruction ;  to  promote  piety,  and  prevent 
heathenism,  in  Britain.  And  by  the  whole  aggregate 
number  of  these  supernumeraries,  do  all  the  preceding 
fiicts  and  observations,  showing  the  criminal  indifference, 
and  negligence,  of  the  English  established  clergy,  as  to 
the  discharge  of  their  religious  duties  and  obligations, 
apply  with  proportionallij  greater  force. 

The   population    of  England    and  AVales  is  rather 
more    than   twelve   millions;  averaging  less  than  one 


THEIII    GENERAL    CHARACTER.  285 

state  clergyman   to  each   thousand  souls.     Indeed,  by 
adding  the  dissenting  ministers,  eleven  thousand  clergy 
more  may  be  joined  to  those  in   the  establishment ; 
giving     twenty-two     tlionsand    religious    teachers    to 
twelve  millions  of  people,  or  one  minister  to  five  or  six 
hundred    souls.     But   the   formal  high   churchmen  do 
not  allow    any  of  these   nonepiscopal  ministrations   to 
be  valid  or  regular.     They   are  all  unauthorized  and 
uncov^nanted.      Nevertheless,    there   is   no   assignable 
proportion    between     the    evangelical    labours    of    the 
whole  ao-p-ree-ate  of  the  dissenting  and  the  established 
clergy ;    nor   between    the    total    amount   of  practical 
piety  and  moral  conduct,   in   their    respective  congre- 
gations. 

AVithout  intending  to  institute  any  invidious  com- 
parison, or  to  lean  unnecessarily  against  the  character 
and  conduct  of  the  English  national  clergy,  I  may  be 
permitted  to  observe,  that  7ione  of  the  American  minis- 
ters, not  even  the  most  formal  of  them  all,  live  the 
secular  life,  or  wear  the  tvoi'ldly  appearance  which  de- 
signate so  large  a  portion  of  the  reverend  clerks,  in  the 
English  state  church  establishment.  In  this  country 
we  have  none  of  tliose  ministers,  one  half  'squire,  and 
the  other  half  not  clerical ;  horse-jockeys,  gamblers, 
sportsmen,  dancers,  drinkers,  profane  swearers,  and  the 
like ;  men  who  live  the  life,  and  die  the  death,  of  mere 
ungodly  worldlings. 

The  American  clergy  do  not  mix  up  secular  em- 
ployments with  their  professional  occupations;  they 
are  neither  yeomanry  captains,  nor  commissioners  of 
excise,  nor  country  justices.  They  are  all  at  least 
decorous  in  their  exterior  deportment ;  and  a  very  large 
majority  of  them  preach,  faithfully  and  effectually, 
the  distinguishing  doctrines  of  the  Cross ;  the  evan- 
gelical doctrines  of  the  Reformation  ;  and  enjoy,  most 
deservedly,  a  very  high  degree  of.  influence,  in  tlie 
respect  and  attachment  of  the  community  at  large ; 
and  more  especially,  of  their  own  congregations  and 
churches. 


286  ANGLICAN    CLERGY. 

Now,  this  cannot  be  said,  in  respect  to  the  generality 
of  the  English  state  clergy ;  the  great  body  of  whom 
neither  preach  the  Gospel,   nor  possess  the  respect  of 
the  community,  nor  enjoy  the  affection  of  their  parishion- 
ers ;  from  whom,  indeed,  they  receive  little  else   save 
tithes  and  execrations.     Hence,  throughout  the  United 
States,  pure,  evangelical  religion  is  much  more  generally 
diffused,    than   in   the  English    church  establishment ; 
and  the  standard  of  morals   is   higlier.     We  have,  in 
proportion  to  our  population,  mnch  less  infidelity  and 
profligacy  ;  fewer  divorces,  robberies,  murders,  tumults, 
insurrections  and  assassinations,  than  are  to  be  found 
among  the  legitimate  members,  and  stoutest  supporters 
of  the  Anglican  and  Hibernian  national   church  esta- 
blishments. 

The  American-Anglo-Churcli  herself  has,  at  length, 
followed  the  example  of  other  religious  denominations, 
and  established  a  general  theological  seminary,  for  the 
instruction  of  her  divinity  students.  An  account  of  the 
origin  and  progress  of  this  school  of  theology,  would 
furnish  an  interesting  and  instructive  chapter  in  the 
history  of  religion,  in  these  United  States :  sed  nunc, 
?io?L  est  his  locus.  It  is  to  be  hoped,  that,  in  future, 
the  American- Anglo- Church  will,  as  much  as  possible, 
guard  alike  against  all  diocesan  usurpation  and  division  ; 
and  move  onward  to  its  great  object,  as  one  united 
community,  acting  in  universal  concert  lor  ecclesiastical 
purposes. 

The  other  principal  religious  denominations  in  the 
United  States,  are  all  making  conjoined  efforts  to  for- 
ward the  course  of  the  Gospel ;  more  especially,  by 
promoting  the  cultivation  of  evangelical  theology. 

For  example,  the  congregationalists  have  a  very 
flourishing,  and  munificently  endowed,  theological 
seminary  at  Andover,  in  Massacluisetts ;  the  me- 
thodists,  one  in  the  western  part  of  the  state  of  New^- 
York ;  the  baptists  have  instituted  a  divinity  college 
at  Washington,  in  the  district  of  Columbia  ;  the 
Dutch  church  has  a  school  of  the  prophets  at  Bruns- 


THEOLOr.ICAL    SEMINARIES.  287 

wick,  in  New- Jersey ;  the  presbyterians  have  a  theo- 
logical hall  at  Princeton,  also  in  Jersey.  In  May 
1821,  the  general  assembly  of  the  presbyterians,  and 
the  general  synod  of  the  associate  reformed  church, 
passed  a  resolution,  wilting  the  judicatories  of  the  two 
churches,  and  joining  the  associate  theological  school  in 
the  city  of  New- York,  to  the  presbyterian  seminary  at 
Princeton.  This  resolution  was  confirmed  in  IN  Jay 
1822  ;  and  these  two  important  evangelical  bodies  are 
now  consolidated  into  one  general  communion.  Mr. 
AMlks  himself  acknowledges,  that  the  English  state 
clergy  have  no  regular  theological  education. 

To  all  this,  add  the  felicitous  harmony  of  many  of 
the  nonepiscopalian  evangelical  churches  ;  as  the  pres- 
byterian, the  Dutch,  and  the  congregational ;  in  ex- 
changing pulpits,  in  meetings  for  prayer  and  Christian 
conference,  in  missionary  institutions,  in  Bible  societies, 
in  Sunday  school  associations,  in  the  distribution  of  re- 
ligious tracts ;  in  a  word,  their  cordial  union  in  every 
effort  to  promote  the  blessed  progress  of  evangelism  ; 
both  among  their  own  fellow-citizens,  and  the  perish- 
ing millions  of  the  heathen,  in  foreign,  and  far  distant 
lands. 

The  apostolic  William  Ward,  in  his  "  Farewell 
Letters,"  bears  his  full  and  decided  testimony  to  the  ex- 
ertions, and  religious  harmony  of  evangelical  Christians, 
in  these  United  States.  He  says  :  the  number  of  re- 
ligious institutions  in  America,  exceeds,  if  possible,  those 
of  England. 

Observe,  Mr.  Ward  does  not  confine  these  religious 
institutions  to  a  comparison,  in  number  with  those  of 
the  Anglican  Church  establishment ;  but  includes  all 
denominations  in  England,  dissenters,  as  well  as  churcli- 
men.  Now,  although  Mr.  Ward's  assertion  is  strictly 
true^  yet  it  is  taking  stronger  ground,  than  is  required 
by  my  p?T.5^?z^  argument ;  which  has  merely  to  combat 
the  assumed  necessity  of  a  national  church  establishment, 
to  promote  piety,  and  prevent  heathenism  in  a  country. 
For,  most  assuredly,  the  established  church   of  Eng- 


288  OTHER    INSTITUTIOXS. 

land  cannot  claim  the  merit  of  promoting  that  dis- 
senting piety,  which,  as  a  state  church,  she  has,  inva- 
riably, calumniated,  and  persecuted,  to  the  utmost  of 
her  power. 

Mr.  Ward  proceeds  to  say  :  that  Bible,  IMissionary, 
Tract,  and  Sunday  school  societies,  are  very  nume- 
rous. The  American  Bible  Society  is  a  noble  institu- 
tion, doing  great  good.  The  orphan  asylum,  at  IS'ew- 
York,  has  been  favoured  with  such  remarkable  instances 
of  the  Divine  care,  as  to  remind  one  very  strongly  of  the 
institution  of  professor  Frank,  in  Germany.  The  deaf 
and  dumb  asylum,  at  Hartford,  Connecticut,  under  the 
care  of  the  Rev,  Mr.  Gallaudet,  prospers  exceedingly. 
I  spent  some  hours  at  the  asylum,  enjoying  a  flow  of 
feelings  so  sacred,  and  so  refined,  that  1  can  never  lose 
the  recollection  of  this  visit. 

Regular  prayer  meetings,  confined  to  females,  are 
very  common  in  America ;  which  has,  also,  some  in- 
stitutions that  I  have  not  heard  of  in  other  countries. 
At  Boston,  and  at  other  places,  a  missionary  for  the 
town  and  neighbourhood  is  maintained  and  employ- 
ed ;  his  work  is  to  carry  the  Cospel  to  the  poor  ;  to 
preach  in  cellars,  in  garrets,  and  amongst  those  who, 
by  their  poverty,  or  peculiar  circumstances,  or  dis- 
inclination, are  excluded  from  the  public  means  of 
grace.  I  met  two  or  three  of  these  interesting  mis- 
sionaries. 

Societies  of  ladies  exist  for  assisting  poor  Chris- 
tian students,  by  purchasing  cloth,  and  making  them 
clothes.  Other  ladies  unite  to  work  together,  one 
day  in  a  week,  fortnight,  or  month,  devoting  the  pro- 
duce to  some  good  object.  One  of  the  parties  reads 
for  the  edification  of  the  rest.  Sej)arate  societies,  of 
girls  and  boys,  are  numerous  ;  they  have  their  meet- 
ings, and  devote  a  quarter,  half,  or  whole  dollar  a 
year,  each,  to  some  Christian  object.  In  Mr.  Pay- 
son's  church,  at  Portland,  a  number  of  married  fe- 
males have  associated,  under  a  solemn  engagement, 
that  the  survivors  will  seek   the  spiritual  good  of  the 


HARMONY — REVIVALS — MISSIONS.  289 

children,    from   whom    any  mother  in  tliis  association 
may  he  removed  by  death. 

The  different  denominations  in  this  country  come 
together  in  dehghtful  harmony,  and  co-oj)erate,  with- 
out the  obstruction  of  those  impediments,  which  exist 
in  other  countries.  The  Sunday  School  Union  in  New- 
York,  exhibits  a  noble  specimen  of  true  Christian  feel- 
ing ;  and  flourishes  accordingly.  I  found  more  places 
of  worship  in  the  large  towns  in  America,  than  in 
similar  towns  in  Britain,  (including  both  establislied 
and  dissenting  churches,)  and  much  genuine  i^iefcy 
among  the  presbyterians,  the  congregationalists,  the 
evangelical  episcopalians,  the  methodists,  and  the 
baptists ;  and,  as  far  as  my  journeying  extended, 
I  observed  a  cheering  exhibition  of  Christian  pro- 
gress. 

As  in  England,  all  denominations  of  r<?c7/ Christians 
are  increasing  ;  and  all  are  growing  better.  Tlie  re- 
vivals in  different  sections  of  the  Union  are  greater 
than  ever.  I  have  made  special  inquiry  into  the  nature 
of  these  revivals,  and  find,  that  the  far  greater  portion 
of  those  who  commence  a  religious  profession  under 
these  impressions,  continue  till  death  to  adorn  the  doc- 
trine of  Divine  influence. 

Christian  missions  too,  begin  to  be  more  and  more 
popular;  and  the  duty  of  the  church  to  identify  liiem 
as  an  integral  part  of  its  institutions,  begins  to  be  more 
generally  felt  and  acknowledged  in  this  highly  favoured 
country.  Wliat  a  cheering  sight  it  was,  on  the  9th  of 
INIarch,  1821,  to  see  coach  and  waggon  loads  of  mis- 
sionaries coming  into  Princeton,  on  their  way  to  the 
Indians  !  The  wilderness  and  the  solitary  place  siiall 
be  glad  for  them.  And  how  still  more  astonishing  tliat 
these  Indians  should  be  made  willing  to  devote  to  the 
education  of  their  children  all  the  dollars  paid  to  them, 
in  annual  instalments,  for  lands,  by  the  government  of 
the  United  States 

Blessed  be  God !  the  appearances  in  all  Christian 
countries  indicate,  that  we  arc  rapidly  passing  into  a 
new  order  of  things.     Indeed,  all   the   great  events  of 

u 


290  PROfiP.KSS    OF    UNITED    STATF.P. 

our  own  times  seem  but  the  harbinger  of  his  appearance, 
who  is  the  desire  of  all  nations. 

After  visiting  the  states  of  New- York,  Connecticut, 
Massachusetts,  New- Hampshire,  INIaine,  New- Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  &c.,  and  the  cities  of  New- 
York,  Boston,  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore,  I  was 
quite  amazed  at  the  progress  of  society  in  the  United 
States :  these  towns,  these  colleges,  these  courts  of 
justice,  these  scientific  and  benevolent  institutions,  the 
extent  of  country  cultivated,  these  state  governments, 
this  army,  this  navy,  this  powerful  general  government ! 
Why,  my  dear  brother,  when  I  considered  that  the 
other  day  this  whole  continent  was  forest,  the  exclusive 
abode  of  half  naked  savages  and  wild  beasts ;  all  this 
scenery  appeared  before  me  as  the  effect  of  enchantment. 
What  a  striking  contrast  to  the  deathlike  paucity  of 
society  among  the  Indians  on  the  same  spot,  during  the 
preceding  five  hundred  years. 

In  passing  througli  Connecticut,  I  could  not  but 
observe,  the  country  must  be  happy,  in  which  the 
poor  can  obtain  the  respectable  education  of  their 
children  ^  nothing  ;  where  each  man  of  good  cha- 
racter, without  regard  to  his  sect,  can  become  a  le- 
gislator ;  where  provisions  are  exceedingly  cheap  ;  where, 
except  in  particular  towns,  taxes  are  few ;  where  there 
are  no  tithes,  nor  the  galled  feelings  arising  from  the 
unwise  elevation  of  one  part  of  the  people,  on  a  re- 
ligious account,  over  the  other  part ;  and  where  the 
people,  (by  their  delegates  and  ?^epresentatives,  as  in 
the  legislature,  whether  state  or  general,)  as  I  had  just 
seen  them  in  Boston,  meet  in  convention,  to  amend 
the  constitution  of  the  state,  with  the  same  good  hu- 
mour, as  men  go  to  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Humane 
Society  in  London.  I  saw  several  baptist  ministers  in 
this  convention  ;  as  well  as  among  the  legislators  of  the 
state  of  Maine. 

Religious  services  are  conducted  nearly  as  in  Eng- 
land ;  but  our  custom  of  lining  out  the  hymn  scarcely 
exists ;  and  singing  is  often  profanely  abandoned  to  the 


RELIGIOUS    SERVICES.  291 

choir,  as  though  praise  may  be  done  by  proxy  ;  or  the 
object  of  Christian  worship  be  partial  to  such  tunes  as 
the  congregation  cannot  acquire.  How  any  one  can 
blame  cathedral  worship  as  popish,  and  admire  these 
exiiibitions  in  the  front  gallery,  I  know  not.  Notes,  en- 
treating the  prayers  of  the  congregation  for  the  sick,  &e. 
are,  in  many  places,  sent  up  into  the  pulpit ;  and  directed 
by  these  notes,  the  ministers  visit  the  sick  during  the 
week . 

Reading  the  Holy  Scriptures  does  not  commonly, 
I  regret  to  say,  make  a  part  of  the  (nonepiscopal ) 
services  of  the  sanctuary.  Dr.  Watts,  generally,  sup- 
plies the  forms  of  praise  to  the  American  people.  There 
are  some  selections,  the  greater  part,  however,  the 
composition  of  Watts,  by  Drs.  Dwight,  Livingston, 
and  Worcester,  and  Mr.  Winchell.  American  edi- 
tions of  Dr.  llippon's  selection  are  not  uncommon. 
The  reading  of  sermons  prevails  to  a  considerable  de- 
gree among  the  congregational,  and  other  ministers. 
The  services  are  often  concluded  with  a  doxology,  the 
people  standing.  Blacks  are  members  of  the  same 
churches,  and  sit  down  to  the  Lord's  table  with  the 
whites. 

Divine  service  seemed  well  attended  in  the  states 
I  visited ;  and  among  the  presbytcrians,  congrega- 
tionalists,  and  baptists,  there  are  but  few  instances 
of  a  Ary,  formal  ministry  ;  though  much  of  it  still  re- 
mains among  the  episcopalians.  Among  the  baptists 
there  is  a  considerable  portion  of  that  Calvinism, 
which  knows  not  how  to  unite  duty  with  sovereignty, 
obligation  with  privilege,  watchfulness  with  perse- 
verance, and  the  necessity  of  prayer  with  Divine  in- 
fluence. A  baptist  church,  practising  open,  or  Chris- 
tian  communion,  1  found  not ;  and  one  or  two  minis- 
ters did  not  hesitate  to  avow,  that  they  did  not  con- 
sider pedobaptists  within  the  pale  of  the  visible  church ! 
Is  it  not  strange  that  the  people,  who  still  loudly 
complain  that  the  baptists  were  imprisoned,  and  flog- 
ged, at   Boston,  should  themselves  act  upon  a  seiiti- 

u  2 


292  CHURCH   UNITY. 

merit  so  utterly  contrary  to  Christian  forbearance  and 
charity  ? 

The  editor  of  the  Christian  Herald,  for  June  1822, 
hrings  together  the  opinions  of  four  truly  Christian 
divines,  of  four  several  denominations,  in  favour, 
and  in  explanation  of  real,  evangelical  church  uni- 
hf ;  to  wit,  an  American  presbyterian,  and  an  Eng- 
lish baptist,  independent,  and  episcopalian,  respec- 
tively. 

The  Kev.  Dr.  Proudfit,  a  distinguished  clergy- 
man among  the  American  presbyterians,  says :  the 
unity  of  the  church  does  not  consist  in  the  attach- 
ment of  all  its  members  to  the  same  visible  commu- 
nion. It  rather  consists  in  the  recognition  of  each 
other,  as  brethren  and  sisters,  in  the  same  spiritual 
family ;  in  cherishing  reciprocal  affection  ;  in  esteem- 
ing others  better  than  ourselves  ;  in  interchanging  of- 
fices of  kindness  ;  in  ministering  to  the  temporal  and 
spiritual  comfort  of  each  other,  and  walking  together, 
as  opportunity  offers,  in  all  commandments  and  ordi- 
nances of  Jehovah. 

Two  professors  may  appertain  to  different  sections 
of  the  visible  church,  and  yet,  by  loving  one  auotlier, 
by  forbearing  with  the  imperfections  of  each  other, 
by  mingling  occasionally  in  the  exercises  of  divine 
worship,  private  and  public,  must  be  considered,  in 
the  most  emphatic  sense,  as  keeping  the  unity  of  the 
spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace.  And  two  professors 
may  be  connected  with  the  savie  visible  communion, 
and  yet  be  alienated  in  heart,  be  sundered  in  their 
interests  and  aims,  be  defaming  each  other,  and  thus 
be   chargeable  with    rending    the    mystical    body    of 

Christ. 

The  bond  of  union  to  the  former  professors,  is  the 
Holy  Spirit,  the  Spirit  of  Jesus,  the  Head,  who 
dwells  in  his  living  members,  of  all  countries  and 
ages,  enlightening,  and  sanctifying,  and  supporting 
them,  and  is  lasting  as  eternity  ;  to  the  latter,  the 
only  bond  of  union    is  the  ecclesiastical   pale,  which 


CHURCH    UNITY.  293 

encloses  tlicni ;  and   may  be   dissolved  by   tlie  accident 
of  an  lionr. 

The  Christian  Herald  tlien  cites  other  passages  on 
the  same  subject,  from  other  quarters  :  not  merely,  as 
he  says,  to  show  a  kind  and  friendly  disposition  in  the 
representatives  oi  four  different  denominations;  but 
also,  to  show  how  many  are  making  the  discovery  of  a 
mystery,  which,  for  ages,  had  not  been  made  known ; 
and,  indeed,  was  as  great  a  mystery,  as  was,  in  still 
earlier  ages,  the  predicted  union  of  the  Gentiles  with 
the  Jews.  Time  brought  to  light,  in  the  days  of  the 
Apostles,  a  mystery  hidden  for  ages  ;  and  the  Gentiles 
became  the  children  of  Abraham,  by  love  and  faith  ; 
without  circumcision ;  without  sacrifice ;  as  unex- 
pectedly, as  gloriously.  So,  each  denomination  has 
had  the  mystery  of  Christian  union,  concealed  from  its 
prejudiced  eye;  each,  has  expected,  eventually,  to  em- 
bosom in  her  pale  all  the  rest ;  but  nozv,  each  begins  to 
apprehend  that  mysterious  union,  in  which  men  agree 
to  differ. 

Mr,  Ward,  in  one  of  his  "  Farewell  Letters,"  says  : 
I  am  more  than  ever  anxious  to  know  no  man  after  his 
sect ;  to  know  no  man  as  an  independent,  an  episcopa- 
lian, a  presbyterian,  a  methodist,  or  a  baptist.  I  would 
say  of  every  one  who  wears  the  image  of  Christ,  and 
contributes  to  improve  the  spiritual  desart  around  him, 
and  of //o  one  else ;  the  same  is  my  brother,  and  my  sister, 
and  mother.  What  a  sad  thing,  that  while  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  loves  his  people,  because  they  bear  Jtis 
image  ;  the  cause  of  our  attaclnnent  should  be,  that  they 
belong  to  us. 

I  am  told  some  episcopalians  apologize  for  not  en- 
gaging in  foreign  missions,  by  saying,  it  is  unnecessary 
for  us  to  spend  our  strength  in  this  work  ;  all  must  come 
to  lis  at  last.  I  hear  another  say,  T  pray  for  the  success 
of  those,  who  are  ordained  by  the  laying  on  of  the  hands 
of  the  presbytery.  A  methodist  is  too  apt  to  conclude, 
that  almost  all  the  energy  of  piety  in  the  world  is  in  his 
connexion.  ^Vnother  sect  finds  every  body  of  professing 
Christians  so  corrupt,  that  they  cannot  aid  any  of  them. 


294  CHURCH   UNITY. 

The  baptist,  as  he  walks  through  a  town,  points  to  the 
churches  and  chapels,  and  says — all  these  are  to  become 
baptist  meeting-houses ;  Jesus  Christ  and  his  Apostles 
were  all  baptists. 

Now  we  see,  at  present,  the  kingdom  of  Christ  given 
to  none  of  these  exclusively ;  and  all  will  be  disap- 
pointed ;  and  yet,  not  one  atom  of  truth  will  be  lost ; 
not  one  atom  of  error  will  be  spared.  The  world  is  not 
to  be  conquered  by  our  favourite  sentiments,  but  by  the 
spirit  or  mind  of  Jesus  Christ  in  us ;  the  kingdom  is  to 
be  given  to  the  saiMs  of  the  Most  High.  The  world 
is  to  be  conquered,  neither  by  argument,  nor  by  popular 
talents  ;  but  by  Christ,  the  Christ  on  Calvary,  in  us  ; 
by  the  energy  of  piety,  of  Christian  philanthropy  ;  that 
pities,  that  weeps,  that  plunges  into  the  thickest 
danger,  to  rescue  the  sinking.  Does  any  sect  wish  to 
engross  to  itself  the  work  of  renovating  the  world?  the 
07ily  way  is  to  engross  all  the  vital  godliness  in  the 
world ;  and  tJien  it  will  succeed  ;  the  Saviour  seeketh 
such  to  serve  him. 

The  llev.  William  Jay,  a  celebrated  minister  among 
the  English  independents,  in  his  remarks  on  the  narra- 
tive of  the  Rev.  John  Clark,  says  :  as  the  subjects  of 
Divine  grace,  under  all  the  denominations  that  dis- 
tinguish us,  we  belong  to  one  family ;  and  are  therefore 
mucli  more  intimately  related,  than  the  votaries  oi  any 
party  can  be  united.  If  I  am  a  ?'eal  Christian, 
whether  an  episcopalian,  a  dissenter,  or  a  methodist,  I 
am  your  brother,  in  the  highest  sense  God  himself 
affixes  to  the  term  ;  hence,  you  are  not  at  liberty  to  de- 
termine how  you  shall  feel  and  behave  towards  me ; 
you  are  hound  to  love  me  ;  and  without  this  love,  your 
religion  is  a  dream. 

If  God  has  promised  unity  among  his  own  followers, 
we  have  reason  to  believe  that  it  has  been  accomplished. 
But  v/e  see  men,  equally  led  by  the  spirit  of  God,  and 
devoted  to  his  will,  differing  from  each  other  on  num- 
berless subjects.  So  it  always  has  been,  and  always  will 
be.     Religion  is  not   injured   by  it;  nor  has  the  Scrip- 


CHURCH    UNITV.  295 

tare  spoken  in  vain.  It  never  intended  any  thing 
more  than  unity  with  variety ;  an  accordance  in  great, 
a  difference  in  little  things.  If  connuunities  or  indi- 
viduals pursue  an  uniformitij  of  opinions,  ceremonies, 
discipline,  forms  and  modes  of  worship,  they  first  seek 
vvliat  is  impossible ;  for  the  attempt  has  been  fairly 
made,  and  has  proved  useless  ;  men  may  as  well  be  con- 
strained or  persuaded  into  a  uniformity  of  stature,  com- 
plexion, temper. 

And  secondly,  they  seek  what  would  be  unprojli- 
able.  The  advantage  lies  in  the  present  state  of  things. 
The  cultivation  of  such  dispositions,  and  the  practice 
of  such  duties  as  the  exercise  of  humility,  forbearance, 
self-denial,  candour  and  brotherly  love  implies,  arc 
far  more  valuable  and  useful  than  a  dull,  sta  niant  con- 
formity  ot  notions  or  usages.  It  is  awfully  possible  to 
be  very  strenuous  about  the  mint,  anise  and  cummin, 
and  neglect  the  Aveightier  matters  of  the  law ;  to  con- 
tend for  ihcfoniis,  while  destitute  of  the  power  of  god- 
liness. 

Mr.  Jay  cites  the  late  excellent  John  Newton,  as  say- 
ing :  the  true  unity  of  spirit  is  derived  from  the  things 
in  whicli  those,  who  are  taught  and  born  of  God,  agree  ; 
and  should  not  be  affected  by  those  in  which  they  differ. 
The  churcli  of  Christ,  collectively,  is  an  army  ;  they 
serve  under  one  prince,  have  one  common  interest,  and 
are  opposed  by  the  same  enemies.  This  army  is  kept 
up,  and  the  place  of  those  daily  removed  to  the  church 
triumphant,  supplied,  entirely  by  those,  who  are  res- 
cued and  won  from  the  power  of  the  adversary  ;  which 
is  chiefly  effected  by  the  Gos})el  ministry. 

This  consideration  should  remind  ministers,  that 
it  is  highly  improper  to  waste  much  time  and  talent, 
which  ought  to  be  employed  against  the  common  foe, 
in  opposing  those,  who,  tliough  they  cannot  exactly 
agree  with  them  in  every  smaller  point,  are  perfectly 
agreed,  and  ready  to  concur  with  them,  in  promoting 
their  principal  design.  When  I  see  ministers  of  ac- 
knowledged    piety    and     respectable     abilities,     verv 


206  EXCLUSIVE    CHURCHMAXSriTP. 

busy  in  defending  or  coiifuting  the  smaller  differences, 
which  already  too  much  separate  those,  who  ought  to 
be  of  oiiC  heart,  and  of  one  mind,  though,  while  they 
are  fallible,  they  cannot  be  exactly  of  one  judgment ;  I 
give  them  credit  for  tlieir  good  intention,  but  cannot 
help  lamenting  the  misapplication  of  their  zeal,  which, 
if  directed  into  another  channel,  would  probably  make 
them  m.uch  more  successful  in  converting  souls.  Let 
us  sound  an  alarm  in  the  enemy's  camp,  but  not  in 
our  own. 

What  a  mortifying  contrast  lo  these  truly  catholic 
sentiments  do  the  excbmve  churchmanship  and  secta- 
rian bigotry  of  a  large  portion  of  the  English  established 
clergy  exhibit,  through  their  various  mouth-pieces  ;  of 
which  the  chief  seems  to  be  archdeacon  Daubeny.  And 
sorry  am  I  to  see  how  blindly  some  of  the  American- 
Anglo-Church  divines  tread  in  this  same  sheep-track 
of  fatuity ;  and  how  stoutly  they  protest  against  all  co- 
operation and  intercourse  with  nonepiscopalians,  in  mat- 
ters "  purchj  religious.'''' 

About  the  year  1797,  Mr.  Wilberforce  published 
*'  A  practical  view  of  the  prevailing  religious  system 
of  professed  Christians,  in  the  higher  and  middle 
classes  of  England,  contrasted  with  real  Christianity." 
This  excellent  and  eloquent  book  was,  in  itself,  little 
calculated  to  awaken  the  bitterness  of  i)arty  polemics. 
It  breathes  peace  and  good  will  towards  all  who  believe 
in  Revelation  ;  and  though  frankly  avowing  the  author's 
attachment  to  his  own  particular  sect,  it  treats  others, 
not  only  those  of  different  Christian  denominations,  but 
also  deists  and  Socinians,  with  peculiar  moderation  and 
gentleness.  In  recompense  for  which,  that  arch  Socinian 
radical,  Gilbert  Wakefield,  poured  out  upon  him  a  flood 
of  his  wonted  scurrility  and  calumny. 

The  main  object  of  Mr.  Wilberforce  is,  to  show  tlie 
scanty,  defective  erroneous  system  of  the  modern  formal 
English  churchmen,  botli  clerical  and  lay ;  to  contrast 
their  doctrines  and  practice  with  the  public  formularies 
of   the     Anglican    Church,    and    the    character    and 


WILBER  lORCE — DAUBENY.  297 

coiuluct  of  her  venerable  reformers  and  martyrs;  to 
show  the  paramount  importance  of  vital  religion,  even 
in  a  national  and  political  view  ;  and  to  unite  all  classes 
of  Englishmen  to  serious  reflection  on  the  alarming 
aspect  of  the  times  ;  then  pregnant  with  revolution, 
and  infidelity,  and  formalism,  and  ruin. 

The    good    archdeacon    Daubeny,    alarmed  at  the 
pure  evangelism  of  the  lay  senator's  book,  published 
his  "  Guide  to  the  Church,"  as  "  a  corrective  of  the 
evil  r  to  use  bishop  JNIarsh's  words,  when  he  advised  the 
common  prayer  book  to  be  always  joined  with  the  dis- 
tribution  of  the  Bible.      jNIr.  ^Vilberforce  avoids    all 
the  debatable  questions  between  churchmen  and  dissen- 
ters, and  holds  all  to  be  real  Christians  who  agree  in 
the    essentials    of    the    Gospel,    though   differing    in 
circumstantials.     The    which    appeared    to    the    arch- 
deacon a  grievous  sin  of  omission,  if  not  a  deadly  error; 
and  he  laboured,  accordingly,  to  persuade  the  English 
people  to  believe,  that  the  evils  of  the  age  are  to  be 
traced  to  preachers  and  writers  not  instructing  their 
parishioners    and    readers    in    the  nature   and  conse- 
quences of  schism. 

He  opines  it  to  be  as,  nay  more  important,  to  cleave 
to  the  discipline,  than  to  the  doctrines  of  the  church. 
He  is  not  anxious  to  inquire  if  any  other  candle  has 
been  lighted  up,  or  if  the  old  candle  still  continues  to 
burn  brightly,  or  be  waning  dimly  in  the  socket; 
but  all  his  care  is  to  ascertain  if  the  form  of  the  canclle- 
stick  be  right,  and  of  the  true,  exclusive  shape  and  size. 
All  the  English  dissenters,  all  modern  separatists,  as 
well  as  the  ancient  Brownists,  anabaptists  and  quakers, 
he  declares  to  be  in  a  damnable  error ;  and  consigns 
them  to  the  uncovenanted  mercies  of  God. 

Thus,  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  of  the 
Christian  era,  did  a  beneficed  clergyman  in  the  Eng- 
lish protestant  episcopal  church  establishment,  leap 
backward,  at  one  single  vault,  into  the  darkest  ages 
of  popery,  and  shut  out  all  noneiiiscopalians  from  the 
ivedeemer's   kingdom.     In  support  of  this  marvellous 


298  SIR   RICHARD    HI  LI.. 

Christian  discovery,  Mr.  Daiibeny  says:  "  from  the 
general  tenor  of  Scripture,  it  is  to  be  conchided,  that 
none  but  members  of  the  (English)  church  ean  be  par- 
takers of  the  spirit  (of  God)  by  which  it  is  accompanied. 
Without  therefore  presuming  to  determine  the  condi- 
tion of  those,  who  are  out  of  the  (English)  church  ;  we 
are,  at  least,  justified  in  saying,  that  their  hope  of  sal- 
vation must  be  built  upon  some  general  idea  of  the 
Divine  mercy  ;  to  which  the  member  of  the  church  has 
a  covenanted  claim." 

This  precious  "  Guide"  led  to  the  promulgation  of 
the  popish  tenet  of  cocclusive  churchmanship,  among 
the  protestant  episcopal  divines  of  these  United  States; 
as  will,  hereafter,  more  fully  appear. 

The  English  dissenters  were  not  at  all  alarmed  at 
the  report  of  Mr,  Daubeny's  papal  popgun ;  the  sound 
of  which  also,  seems  never  to  have  struck  upon  the  tym- 
panum of  JNIr.  Wilberforce's  ear.  l^ut  Sir  Richard  Hill, 
one  of  the  sounder  members  of  the  ^Vnglican  Church, 
was  grieved  at  the  basis  of  the  archdeacon's  divinity,  so 
much  better  suited  to  the  meridian  of  Rome,  than  to 
that  of  any  protestant  communion.  In  his  "  Apology 
for  brotherly  love,  and  for  the  doctrines  of  the  church 
of  England,"  he  claims  for  a  servant  of  God,  in  a  con- 
venticle, the  right  to  be  esteemed  a  brother  by  the 
worshipper  in  the  established  church. 

He  shows  the  folly  and  impolicy  of  pushing  the 
point  of  episcopacy  too  far ;  of  laying  as  much  stress 
upon  the  regular  descent  of  a  bishop,  as  the  jockeys  and 
sportsmen  place  upon  the  pedigree  of  a  blood-horse,  or  a 
pointer-dog.  He  contends,  that  this  hypothesis  U7i- 
ch'urches  full  half  the  foreign  communions  in  Christen- 
dom ;  and,  also,  invalidates  the  orders  and  ministrations 
of  numberless  English  established  clergy,  derived  from 
prelates,  and  archprelates,  baptized,  only,  by  dissenters, 
in  an  uncovenanted  sort  of  way  ;  and  thus  destroys  the 
unity  of  apostolic,  episcopal  succession  ;  a  chain,  the 
failure  of  one  single  link  in  which,  ruins  the  value  of 
the  whole  theorv. 


CHURCH    DEFINITION.  299 

He  adverts  to  the  place  which  the  doctrines  of  grace 
ou^ht  to  occupy  in  the  scheme  of  salvation ;  and  proves 
most  conclusively,  that  mere  churchmanship  is  not  Chris- 
tianity. He  likewise  convicts  Mr.  Daubeny  of  a  prac- 
tice, not  uncommon  with  this  champion  of  exclusive 
churchmanship,  to  wit,  the  making  a  false  quotation 
from  the  pious  baronet's  "  Five  Letters  to  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Fletcher."  This  "Apology"  is,  on  the  whole, 
a  spirited,  sarcastic,  witty,  and  eloquent  performance. 

To  the  archdeacon's  definition  of  a  church  ;  name- 
ly, that  it  is  a  society,  under  governors  appointed  by 
Christ ;  sir  Richard  Hill  opposes  that  of  the  Anglican 
Articles  themselves  ;  to  wit,  "  a  society  of  faithful  men, 
where  the  word   of  God  is  preached ;"  and  retorts  the 
charge  of  schism,  or  rending  the  body  of  Christ,  upon 
the    worthy    Bath    preacher    himself.       INlr.    Daubeny 
denies   the  validity    of  a7iy    sacrament,  unless   it   be 
episcopally    administered.       Yet   two    primates   of  all 
England,  not  to  mention  some  simple  Anglican  pre- 
lates ;    and  four   supreme,  secular,    sovereign   pontiffs 
of  that  church  establishment,  were  never  baptized  by 
a  bisliop,  priest,  or  deacon.     What  then,  according  to 
the  Sarum  archdeacon's   position,  is  to  become  of  these 
2/7ibaptized   hierarchs,  appointed  by  ?^?zbaptized  heads 
of  the  church,  and  consecrated  by  bishops,  whose  pre- 
decessors were  excommunicated  at  Rome,  by  the  old 
lady  of  Babylon  ;  from  whose  hands  alone  the  Anglican 
Church  derives  her  unbroken,  apostolic,  episcopal  suc- 
cession ?     Are  they  not  all  in  an  i^?icovenanted  predi- 
cament ? 

The  Christian  Observer,  in  the  commencement  of 
its  career,  faithfully  protested  against  the  very  lax, 
and  w?zscriptural  notions  of  religion,  entertained  and 
promulgated  by  too  many  of  the  English  established 
clergy,  and  their  abettors.  For  example,  it  reproves,  with 
just  severity,  the  Antijacobin  Review  for  July  1802, 
in  which  number,  tlie  reviewer,  after  interpreting 
John  xvii.  20,  21,  as  proving  that  all  persons  of  <-///  com- 
munions, which  differ,  in   form   of  church  government. 


300  ANTIJACOBIN    REVIEW. 

from  that  of  the  English  establishment,  are  "  without  a 
ground  for  the  hope  they  entertain  of  salvation  ;"  ex- 
claims— "  O !  would  our  bishops  attend  to  this,  as 
tJieir  predecessors,  the  Apostles,  did  {where  ?)  before 
them  ;  and  they  would  contribute  much  more  effectual- 
ly to  the  enlargement  of  the  flock  of  Christ,  than  by 
delivering  charges,  recommendatory  of  a  spiritual 
religion ;  a  term,  to  which  a  quaker,  or  a  methodist, 
may  be  able  to  affix  a  meaning,  but  which  a  sound 
churchman  does  not  understand.  It  is  a  religion,  double 
distilled,  its  substance  all  evaporated  in  fume,  and 
may  suit  us  when  we  are  out  of  the  body  ;  but  leads 
only  to  confusion,  and  every  evil  work,  while  we  remain 
in  it." 

The  Christian  Observer  is  exceedingly  surprised  at 
the  promulgation  oi  such  sentiments,  in  a  work,  set  up, 
and  continued  for  the  express  purpose  of  supporting  the 
established  church  of  England.  ]3ut  a  short  visit  to  the 
United  States  would  teach  him,  that  these  diagnostics 
of  ^^  sound  churchmanship"  are  by  no  means  uncom- 
mon. He  asks  :  what  language  is  this  from  the  per- 
sons here  using  it  ? 

Unbelievers  have  condemned,  as  absurd  and  hypo- 
critical, all  regard  for  Christianity,  except  as  a  mere 
external  thing;  an  engine  to  overawe  the  multitude. 
Men  of  the  world,  absorbed  in  business,  or  drowned  in 
sensuality,  have  practically  denied  all  that  is  spiritual  in 
religion.  Dissenters  have  insinuated,  that  the  religion 
of  the  English  establishment  consists  chiefly  m  forms. 
Mr.  Daubeny  has  maintained,  that  the  spirituality  of  di- 
vine worship  is  not  essential  to  the  being  of  the  church 
of  Christ.  And  now,  spiritual  religion  is  avowedly 
rejected,  and  openly  ridiculed,  by  professed  Christians, 
and  sworn  clerical  champions  of  the  Anglican  Church. 

Notliing  daunted  by  the  detection  of  his  ignorance 
as  to  all  sound  Scriptural  divinity ;  nor  by  being  con- 
victed of  frequent  y«/6-e  citations;  the  intrepid  arch- 
deacon, in  his  "Appendix  to  a  Guide  to  the  Church," 
says,  with  his   accustomed  arrogance,    to  the  editor  of 


TIUJE    CHURCH.  301 

the  Cliristian  Observer,  "  I  mean  neither  to  disparage 
nor  offend  you,  wlien  I  take  upon  me  to  assert,  that  you 
are  but  a  sciolist  in  theology,  if  you  are  yet  to  learn, 
that,  however  bold  the  position  may  seem,  that  may  be 
a  true  church,  in  which  the  pure  word  of  God  is  7iot 
preached." 

To  this  demivolt  of  jjoperij  from  a  protestant  priest, 
the  Christian  Observer  mildly  answers  :  compare  this 
passage  with  the  following  extract  from  the  second 
part  of  the  ^Vhit-Sunday  homily ;  and  Mr.  Daubeny 
will  appear  not  to  agree  so  exactly  with  the  Re- 
formers, as  he  professes.  '•'  The  true  church,"  says  the 
homily,  "  is  an  universal  congregation,  or  fellowship 
of  God's  faithful  and  elect  people,  built  upon  the 
foundation  of  the  Apostles  and  Prophets,  Jesus 
Christ  himself  being  the  head  corner  stone.  And  it 
hath  always  three  notes  or  marks,  whereby  it  is 
known ;  pure  and  sound  doctrine ;  the  sacraments 
ministered  according  to  Christ's  holy  institution  ;  and 
the  right  use  of  ecclesiastical  discipline.  This  de- 
scription of  the  church  is  agreeable,  both  to  the 
Scriptures  of  God,  and  also  to  the  doctrine  of  the 
ancieiit  fathers ;  so  that  none  may  justly  find  fault 
therewith," 

Had  the  archdeacon  read  this  declaration  of  the 
English  Reformers,  when  he  assailed  the  Christian 
Observer,  as  heretical,  for  advancing  the  identical  pro- 
position? But  Mr.  Daubeny  is  not  the  only  high 
churchman,  who  derives  both  his  churchmanship  and 
his  theology,  from  sources,  otJter  than  the  articles  and 
homilies,  which  they  so  solemnly  subscribe. 

In  these  United  States,  any  evangelical  clergyman, 
of  any  religious  denomination,  can  gather  a  congre- 
gation, and  erect  a  church,  out  of  the  surrounding 
world.  It  is  done  daily  and  hourly,  over  all  the  im- 
mense extent  of  the  Union.  Our  formalists,  indeed, 
of  every  persuasion,  gain  ground  more  slowly,  for 
ii:ant  of  a  national  church  estabhshment.  SucJi  no- 
minal, formal  professors,  always  need  the   aid  of  the 


302  CHURCH    BUILDING. 

secular  arm,  as  a  substitute  for  Baxter's  shove  to  a 
certain  description  of  Christians.  For  they  make 
but  little  headway,  when  the  competition  between 
formalism  and  religion  is  left  open  ;  and  the  civil  go- 
vernment abstains  from  all  undue  political  interfer- 
ence. 

The  evangelical  dissenters,  in  England,  also,  gather 
their  people,  and  build  their  churches,  from  out  of  the 
surrounding  multitude  of  worldlings.  To  a  much 
less  extent,  indeed,  than  do  the  evangelical  denomina- 
tions in  these  United  States ;  because  they  labour 
under  great  disadvantages.  They  must  apply  to  a 
civil  magistrate  for  a  license,  to  give  them  leave  to 
worship  Jehovah,  to  preach  the  pure  Gospel,  to  awaken 
sinners  to  a  sense  of  their  lost  condition  by  nature, 
and  lead  them  to  the  foot  of  the  Cross.  They  must 
also  encounter  the  frowns  and  opposition  of  the 
established  hierarchy ;  which,  not  contented  with  ge- 
nerally, as  a  body,  neglecting  the  spiritual,  the  im- 
mortal interests  of  the  people  committed  to  their  pas- 
toral care ;  invariably  calumniate  and  persecute  all,  who 
are  in  earnest  about  the  everlasting  safety  of  their 
fellow  men. 

But  still  greater  difficulty  attends  every  effort  to 
build  a  new  church,  within  the  pale  of  the  Anglican 
estabhshment.  An  expensive  act  of  parliament,  leave 
of  the  patron  of  the  living,  and  of  the  incumbent  of 
the  parish,  must  be  obtained,  before  a  single  founda- 
tion-stone can  be  laid ;  and  when  the  church  is 
erected,  the  person,  at  whose  expense  it  is  built, 
has  no  power  over  it  ;  no  voice  nor  part  in  the  selec- 
tion of  its  minister.  It  is  immediately  swallowed  up 
in  the  fathomless  abyss  of  church  patronage;  and 
helps  to  swell  the  influence,  either  of  the  civil  govern- 
ment, or  of  some  noble,  or  gentle,  or  bishop,  or  body 
corporate. 

Mr.  Wilks  himself  acknowledges  this.  After  la- 
menting the  want  of  church  room  in  the  English  es- 
tablishment, for  full  half  the  English  population,  he 
says  :    while   dissenters   of    every   class   could    collect 


CHURCH    PATRONAGE.  :>03 

sul)scri])tions,  and  erect  meeting-houses,  without  any 
Ic-al  difficulty ;  a»d  were  availing  themselves  of  the 
facility,  with  a  zeal  which  has  inultiplied  their  converts 
in  every  part  of  the  kingdom  ;  the  friends  of  the  esta- 
hlishmcnt,  even  in  cases  of  the  greatest  urgency,  found 
obstructions  in  their  way  often  insuperable. 

The  settlement  of  the  rights  of  property  and  patron- 
age ;  the  conciliation  of  the  various  parties,  directly  or 
indirectly  concerned ;  with  the  expense,  uncertainty 
and  loss  of  time  in  procuring  a  special  act  of  parlia- 
ment for  the  purpose;  presented  impediments,  any 
one  of  which  was  often  sufficient  to  frustrate  the 
whole  proceeding;  and  all  of  which,  in  combination, 
it  was  seldom  possible  to  surmount.  The  recent  act 
for  building  additional  churches  in  populous  parishes 
has  removed  some  of  these  impediments ;  and  has 
afforded  considerable  facilities  for  supplying  the  defici- 
eneif  of  church  room  ;  at  least,  in  the  most  pressing 
class  of  cases. 

But  this  act  is  clogged  with  provisions,  which  ma- 
terially affect  its  usefulness;  particularly,  the  refusal 
to  give  voluntary  contributors  any  share  in  the  pa- 
tronage, must  for  ever  prevent  its  becoming  a  popu- 
lar measure.  The  original  patronage  of  the  English 
churches  was  more  wisely  managed ;  the  presenta- 
tion to  the  benefice  was  usually  in  the  hands  of  the 
founder ;  so  that  there  was  the  strongest  encourage- 
ment to  build  churches,  wherever  they  were  wanted ; 
which  encouragement  is  wholly  withheld  under  the  pre- 
sent act. 

Dr.  Chalmers  is  still  more  explicit  upon  this  sub- 
ject. In  discussing  the  question  of  church  patronage, 
he  says  :  our  reason  for  affirming  a  jealousy  of  the  po- 
pular voice  in  the  appointment  of  clergy,  on  the  part 
of  the  British  legislature,  is  founded  on  an  examina- 
tion of  their  recent  act  for  building,  and  promoting 
the  building,  of  additional  churches  in  populous 
parishes.  Though  the  parliamentary  grant  for  this  ob- 
ject be  so  S7)iall,  that,  for  a  great  national  effort,  it  must 
be  extensively  aided  by  the  voluntary  subscriptions  of 


304  CHURCH    PATUONAGK. 

the  people,  yet  the  will  of  t]ie  people  is  admitted  to 
no  authority  in  the  nomination  of  the  minister.  Their 
contrihutions  are  looked  for,  without  any  such  equiva- 
lent, either  in  whole  or  in  part,  being  provided  to  en- 
courage them. 

When  the  erection  is  a  chapel  for  an  ecclesiastical 
district,  the  patronage  is  vested,  either  in  the  incum- 
bent of  the  parish,  or  in  some  way  to  be  agreed  upon 
by  the  patrons  of  the  parish,  where  it  is  situated,  in 
conjunction  wdth  the  commissioners  for  carrying  the 
act  into  execution.  When  the  erection  is  a  new^  parish 
church,  its  patronage  is  vested  in  the  patron  of  the 
original  parish,  from  wliich  it  is  detached.  In  other 
words,  patronage  is  to  have  as  great  an  ascendancy, 
and  the  popular  will  to  be  of  as  little  legal  force  in 
counteracting  it,  with  the  new,  as  witli  the  present 
churches.  And  so  sensitive  is  the  aversion  to  any 
limitation  upon  this  point,  that  when  a  clause  was 
proposed  in  the  house  of  commons,  for  vesting  the  pa- 
tronage of  new  churches  or  chapels,  in  the  twelve 
highest  subscribers,  where  the  edifices  were  raised  en- 
tirely by  subscription  ;  this  clause,  though  supported 
by  the  whole  evangelical  interest  in  parliament,  and  ad- 
vocated by  the  chiefs  of  adipinistration,  called  forth  a 
prompt  and  overbearing  majority,  who  instantly  put  it 
down. 

So  completely  is  the  Anglican  Church  establish- 
ment considered  as  a  mere  state  machiue,  to  swell  secu- 
lar influence,  by  the  great  body  of  the  British  legis- 
lature ! 

Now,  says  Dr.  Chalmers,  this  is,  certainly,  not  the 
way  to  promote  the  building  of  new  churches ;  nor  to 
secure  an  attendance  upon  them  when  built.  And  the 
only  hopeful  circumstance  in  the  whole  of  this  national 
provision,  is,  that  the  stipend  of  the  minister  is  paid 
out  of  the  pew  rents,  raised  from  the  hearers ;  tlie  com- 
mon mode  of  raising  the  salary  of  our  American  clergy, 
in  most  of  the  denominations.  This  will  covipel  an 
accommodation  to  the  popular  taste,  at  least,  in  the 
Jirst  instance. 


MR.  GLADSTONE.  305 

But  utterhj  helpless  is  every  speculation  of  the  legis- 
lature, about  the  revival  aud  growth  of  public  virtue 
in  England,  when  thus  impeded  by  their  own  ground- 
less alarms  :  and  by  their  utter  misconception,  of  rvhat 
that  instrument  is,  by  which  people  are  drawn  to  attend 
on  the  lessons  of  "Christianity ;  and  of  ivhat  that 
Christianity  is,  which  emanated  pure  from  the  mouth 
of  revelation,  and  which,  by  its  adaptation  to  human 
want,  and  human  consciousness,  is  sure  to  meet  witha 
responding  movement  from  the  multitude,  whenever  it 
is  addressed  to  them. 

One  evil  has  ensued  upon  this  movement  of  the 
legislature.  It  has  tended  to  fill  and  satisfy  the  pub- 
lic imagination ;  and  thus  arrested  the  zeal  of  private 
adventurers,  friendly  alike  to  the  establishment  and 
to  Christian  education.  Previous  to  the  passing  of 
this  act,  Mr.  Gladstone,  of  Liverpool,  erected  two  new 
churches  in  that  town,  negotiating  for  himself,  not  the 
permanent  patronage,  for  this  could  not  be  obtained, 
but  the  three  first  nominations  of  a  minister  to  each 
of  them. 

Tliere  was,  in  this  instance,  every  security  for  a 
popular  exercise  of  the  patronage.  The  zeal  \vhich 
prompted  the  undertaking,  was  a  guarantee  for  the 
appointment  of  acceptable  and  effective  clergymen. 
And,  as  the  seat  rents  were  to  form  the  revenue,  both 
for  the  minister's  stipend,  and  the  repair  of  the  fabrics, 
the  power  of  a  veto  was  conceded  to  the  popular 
voice.  y 

Had  "Six,  Gladstone  obtained  the  perneiual  patron- 
age of  his  two  churches,  in  return  for  having  ei'ected 
and  endowed  them,  the  right  would  have  descended, 
by  inheritance,  to  his  family,  and  like  any  other 
property,  been  transferable  by  sale.  We  know  not 
how  far  the  actual  patronage  in  England,  has  taken 
origin,  and  its  descent,  from  the  liberality  of  founders  ; 
or  been  rendered  to  great  proprietors,  as  an  equivalent 
for  the  church  expenses  laid  upon  them.  But  when 
we  think  for  what  essential  purposes  this  right  may  be 
acquired,  and  how  fairly  it  may  be  appropriated,  and 

X 


S06  BisHor  ra^DEii. 

handed  down  in  families,  from  one  generation  to  ano- 
ther, we  look  to  its  guidance,  and  not  to  its  overthrow, 
for  any  great  Christian  reformation  oi the  (established) 
churches  in  England. 

The  holders  of  this  important  right  will,  at  length, 
(sed  quando,  domine  f )  participate  in  the  growing  spi- 
rit, and  illumination  of  the  age ;  and  while  others  re- 
gard patronage  as  the  great  instrument  of  the  corrup- 
tion and  decline  of  Christianity  ;  we  trust,  that  under 
the  impulse  of  better  principles,  it  will,  at  length,  (how 
long?)  become  the  instrument  of  its  revival. 

A'Ve  envy  not  that  dissenter  his  feelings,  who  would 
not  bless  God,  and  rejoice  in  the  progress  of  an 
apostolic  bishop  through  his  diocese.  But  it  is  not 
from  this  quarter,  at  present,  that  the  glance  of  disap- 
probation and  disdain  falls  upon  him.  It  is  from  his 
own  brethren  on  the  episcopal  bench ;  who,  if,  instead 
of  lifting  upon  him  the  frown  of  a  hostile  countenance, 
were  to  go  and  do  likewise,  they  would  throne  their 
establishment  in  the  affections  of  the  whole  popula- 
tion ;  and  by  the  resistless  moral  force,  which  lies  in 
the  union  of  humble  worth  and  exalted  condition, 
would  cause  both  the  radicalism  and  infidelity  of  Eng- 
land, to  hide  their  faces  as  ashamed. 

Wherever  the  good  bishop  of  Gloucester,  (Dr.  Ry- 
der,) assumes,  for  a  day,  the  office  of  humble  pastor, 
in  one  of  the  humblest  of  his  parishes,  he  leaves 
an  unction  of  blessedness  behind  him ;  and  the 
amount  of  precious  fruit,  that  springs  from  such  an 
itinerancy  of  love,  and  evangelical  labour,  is  beyond 
all  com|)utation.  Such  a  mingling  with  the  people 
would  not  confound,  but  firmly  harmonize,  ranks.  It 
would  sanctify  and  strengthen  all  the  bonds  of  so- 
ciety. 

It  is  wretched  to  think,  not  merely,  of  sound  prin- 
ciple being  thrown  aside,  but  of  sound  policy  being  so 
glaringly  traversed,  by  the  derision  and  discouragement 
laid  on  all  the  activities  of  religious  zeal ;  or,  that 
tliey,  who  preside  over  the  destinies,  as  well  as  the 
patronage  of   the   English  church,    should  have    been 


BEST  CHURCH  PATRONAflE.  307 

misled  into  the  imagination,  that  her  security  lies  in 
her  silliness ;  and  that,  should  the  warmth  of  restless 
sectarianism  be,  in  any  semblance  or  measure,  imported 
into  her  bosom,  it  will  burn  up  and  destroy  her. 

Does  Dr.  Chalmers  exhibit  these  facts  and  ob- 
servations, to  show  forth  the  bcneficiat  tendencies  and 
influences  of  the  existing  system  of  patronage,  in  the 
Anglican  Church  establishment  ?  It  was  the  patron- 
age of  tlie  British  government,  which  manufactured 
those  very  formal  bishops,  who  scowl  with  the  darkest 
frowns,  upon  the  apostolic  labours  of  their  evangelical 
brother  of  Gloucester ;  those  very  formal  bishops,  who, 
if  report  speaks  truth,  laboured  by  unanimous  petition, 
both  archiepiscopal  and  prelatical,  to  prevent  Dr.  Ryder 
from  ascending  to  his  present  elevation  ;  their  righteous 
petition  only  failing  in  its  object  by  the  force  of  family, 
and  fraternal  effort. 

We  believe  the  best  system  of  church  patronage  to  be, 
the  election  of  the  clergyman  by  the  people,  who  pay 
him  his  stipend,  and  to  whom  he  administers  in  spi- 
ritual things.  In  these  United  States,  and  among  the 
evangelical  dissenters  in  Britain,  where  the  people 
actually  call  and  elect  their  own  ministers,  a  ninch 
greater  proportion  of  vital  religion,  and  active  practical 
piety,  are  found,  than  in  the  churches  of  the  Anglican, 
the  Hibernian,  and  the  Scottish  establishments ;  in 
which,  the  civil  government,  the  lay  nobility  and  gentry, 
the  bishops,  and  the  corporate  bodies,  both  secular  and 
clerical,  dispose  of  all  the  ecclesiastical  dignities  and 
benefices. 

It  is  also  wortliy  of  remembrance,  that  the  mere  pos- 
session of  large  funds  and  revenues  cannot  render  a 
churcli  flourishing  and  prosperous.  If  it  could,  tlie 
established  church  of  England,  with  an  annual  income 
greater  than  the  whole  permanent  capital  of  all  the 
American  churches  put  together,  would  infallibly  crush 
the  efforts  of  all  other  sects  ;  instead  of  continually 
clamouring  about  Iter  own  danger  of  perishing,  from 
the  rapid  and  increasing  growth  of  so  many  various 
denominations  of  dissenters. 

X  2 


308  EEST  CHITRCH    TREASnilY. 

Ey  far  the  wealthiest  of  all  the  religious  hodics  in 
these  United  States,  is  the  protestant  episcopal  com- 
munion, in  the  city  of  New- York  ;  supposed  to  possess 
real  estate  to  the  amount  of  six  millions  of  dollars 
in  value ;  though  not  yielding  an  income  corre- 
sponding with  so  large  a  capital.  Vet  the  American- 
Anglo-Church  halts  vci^y  Jar  hehind  many  other 
denominations,  in  numbers,  and  activity,  and  influ- 
ence. 

The  real,  the  only  secret  of  a  church's  prosperity,  is 
to  be  found  in  her  clergy  preachiug  tlie  Gospel,  and 
performing  the  duties  of  their  pastoral  office  conscien- 
tiously and  well. 

Scarcely  any  of  the  greatest  and  most  powerful 
Christian  corporations  in  the  Union,  to  wit,  the  pres- 
byteriaus,  the  congregatioualists,  the  baptists,  and 
the  methodists,  possess  large  permanent  funds ;  yet 
they  increase  and  multi])ly  on  all  sides ;  aud  their 
wants  are  supplied  by  the  contributions  of  a  williug 
people,  attached  to  their  faithful  ministers,  who 
preach  evangelically.  A  pious  clergy  generally  makes 
a  pious  laity  ;  and  men  really  religious,  are  always 
ready  to  give  of  their  temporal  substance  to  promote 
the  interests  of  the  Kedeemer's  kingdom  ;  to  give 
a  paj't  of  that  gold  and  silver,  all  of  which  belongs 
to  God,  as  sole  proprietor  of  the  universe ;  for 
the  })urpose  of  erecting  temples  to  his  worship  and 
honour. 

An  able  evangelical  preacher  will  do  incalculably 
more  for  the  best  interests  of  religion,  out  of  the  vo- 
luntary contributions  of  an  attached  people,  than  a 
formal  drone  can  do,  out  of  the  permanent  funds 
of  a  largely  endowed  church,  in  conjunction  with 
the  contributions  of  that  congregation,  to  which 
he  deals  out  his  weekly  dole  of  Sabbatical  suovv- 
broth. 

The  best  ecclesiastical  treasury  is  a  Gospel  ministry  ; 
which  will  always  be  able,  both  to  build  churches  and 
to  fill  them  with  hearers ;  whereas  a  formal  clergy, 
even  when  churches  are  already   built  for  them,  can 


AMKllICAN    OIUFCTS.  309 

seldom,  if  ever,  gather  together  either  people  or  money, 
sufficient  to  forward  any  ecclesiastical  scheme,  that 
might  be  considered  necessary.  This  two/old  fact  is 
verified  by  the  daily  and  hourly  ex})erience  of  all  our 
cities,  throughout  the  whole  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard. 

Nevertheless,  JNIr.  AV^ilks  earnestly  recommends  the 
American  legislature,  forthwith  to  make  provision  for 
the  establishment  of  a  national  church.  But,  in  the 
first  place,  the  federal  constitution  prohibits  the  general 
government  from  having  recourse  to  such  a  measure. 
A.nd,  secondly,  if  that  obstacle  were  removed,  the  re- 
presentatives of  the  people,  in  Congress  assembled, 
would  hardly  venture  to  impose  the  burden  of  a  state 
church  upon  their  fellow-citizens  ;  seeing,  that  such  a 
proceeding  would  be  in  direct  hostility  to  the  whole 
scope  and  genius  of  all  the  social  institutions  in  these 
United  States. 

AVithout  entering  into  any  detail  of  facts^  as  to  how 
the  objects  of  these  social  institutions  are  practically 
pursued  in  particular  instances;  without  descending 
to  any  investigation  of  the  machinery  and  movements 
of  various  political  parties,  from  which  I  have  always 
stood  aloof,  as  cordially  as  I  \\ouid  from  the  yellow 
fever,  or  the  plague ;  it  is  sufficient  for  our  present 
purpose  to  notice,  that  the  tivo  main,  avowed  objects 
of  American  policy  are  :  first,  to  carry  on  the  govern- 
ment with  as  little  expense,  pressure  and  interference 
with  the  pursuits  and  comforts  of  the  people,  as  is 
compatible  with  executive  efficiency ;  and,  secondly,  to 
give  as  much  possible  personal  liberty  to  individuals,  as 
is  consistent  with  social  safety. 

If  this  great  experiment  in  favour  of  human  happiness 
and  improvement,  shall,  in  future,  and  permanently,  be 
as  successful  as  it  has  hitherto  proved,  it  will  be  of  im- 
mense moment,  not  only  to  this  country,  but  to  the 
other  nations  of  the  earth  ;  by  eventually  inducing  them 
also,  to  lean  with  a  less  heavy  hand,  in  the  shape  of 
government  expenditure,  and  government  restraint,  up- 
on their  respective  people. 


SIO  BllITISH    rilESSURE. 

America  would,  undoubtedly,  pause,  before  she  bur- 
dened herself  with  an  annual  tax  o^  fifty  millions  of  dol- 
lars, to  support  a  state  church ;  when  she  does  not  now 
expend  one  half  oi  that  sum  yearly,  in  carrying  on  the 
whole  of  her  general  government,  civil,  naval,  mili- 
tary, and  including  the  appropriation  of  eight  millions 
for  the  sinking  fund  ;  which  had,  on  the  first  of  Janu- 
ary, 1822,  worn  down  the  whole  public  debt  of  the  na- 
tion to  ninety-three  millions  of  dollars,  and  a  fraction ; 
making  a  little  more  than  trventy  millions  sterling,  or, 
about  half  the  amount  of  the  annual  interest  on  the 
public  debt  of  Britain. 

Now,  in  England,  every  thi?^d  sovereign  of  the 
whole  national  income  goes  into  the  exchequer ;  or, 
in  other  words,  every  third  person  in  the  British 
isles,  works  altogether  for  the  government,  and  is  him- 
self entirely  supported  by  the  other  two.  If,  in  these 
United  States,  every  third  dollar  of  the  whole  annual 
income  of  the  country  went  into  the  public  treasury  at 
AVashington,  the  American  people  would  be  apt  to  ask, 
what  equivalent  they  received  for  giving  up  one-third 
of  all  their  property,  time,  talent  and  labour,  to  be  con- 
sumed by  government.  And,  beyond  all  question, 
they  would  not  find  the  equivalent  in  an  expensive  na- 
tional church,  made  up  out  of  one  dominant  sect,  whose 
chief  ecclesiastical  functionaries  were  appointed  by  the 
existing  secular  administration ;  and  whose  dignitaries, 
generally,  and  systematically,  proscribed  all  evangelical 
religion,  and  persecuted  all  personal  piety;  more  es- 
pecially, if  found  within  the  pale  of  their  own  establish- 
ed communion. 

Will  the  British  government,  with  an  unpaid  public 
debt  of  four  thousand  millions  of  dollars ;  a  weight  of 
taxation,  deducting  one-third  of  the  whole  yearly  in- 
come of  the  nation  ;  a  prostrate  agriculture,  an  embar- 
rassed commerce  and  struggling  manufactures  ;  a  system 
o^ game  laws,  which  erects  every  landed  gentleman  into 
a  petty  tyrant  on  his  own  domain  ;  and  creates  a  regular 
army  of   keepers    and  poaching  banditti,  who  fill   tlie 


SALAUIKD    SINECURES.  311 

whole  country  with  depredation,  violence  and  blood ;  a 
scheme  of  poor  laws,  that  ensures  and  perpetuates  a 
degraded,  demoralized,  discontented  population;  per- 
sist in  being  the  great  political  arsenal  for  forging 
formal  prelates  ?  persist  in  bestowing  bishoprics  and 
benefices  on  worldly,  irreligious  clerks?  pe?^sist  in 
secularizing  that  national  church,  of  which  they  are 
the  appointed  legal  ])atroDS,  protectors  and  guardians  ? 
and  thus  inflict  a  deadlier  evil  upon  the  British  em- 
pire, than  all  the  combined  ills  of  debt,  taxation,  game 
laws,  poor  laws,  a  penal  code,  at  once  sanguinary  and 
ineffectual,  and  languishing  manufactures,  commerce 
and  agriculture  ;  by  alienating  the  hearts  of  the  people 
from  their  rulers,  and  by  diffusing  the  horrors  of  infi- 
delity and  profligacy  throughout  all  the  ranks  and 
orders  of  the  community  ? 

And  this,  too,  at  a  time  when  the  chiefs  of  the 
British  cabinet  avow  openly  in  the  house  of  commons, 
that  it  is  necessary  to  keep  up  useless,  sinecure  places, 
in  order  to  balance  the  influence  of  the  crown  against 
the  growing  weight  of  popular  opinion  ;  and  to  carry 
on,  with  sufficient  facility  and  force,  the  machinery 
of  government.  This  audacious  declaration  was  made 
in  ISIarch,  1823,  during  the  discussion  of  a  motion 
for  the  reduction  of  one  of  two  postmasters  general, 
each  of  whom  receives  a  salary  of  2,5 OOZ.,  upwards 
of  eleven  thousand  dollars,  a  year;  though  it  was 
not  denied,  that  one  of  these  offices  is  altogether  a 
sinecure. 

The  main  ground  upon  which  the  administration 
contended  that  this  salaried  sinecure  ought  to  be  re- 
tained, was,  that  in  these  days  of  increased  light, 
when  public  opinion  has  gained  a  force  unknown  to 
former'  times,  suck  appointments  are  absolutely  ne- 
cessary to  maintain  the  due  preponderance  of  the 
crown. 

Now,  if  this  argument  be  sound,  the  British  go- 
vernment ought  not  to  have  made  any  reductions ; 
but   to  have  kept  up  the  expenditure  to  the  war-pitch 


312  CROWN    INFLUENCE. 

of  1815  ;  about  live  hundred  uiillions  of  dollars,  or  half, 
instead  of  a  ihird,  of  the  whole  national  income.  For, 
certainly,  the  influence  of  tlie  crown  would  be  greater, 
if  it  took  a  hundred  and  ten  millions  sterling  a  year, 
out  of  the  pockets  of  the  people,  than  if  it  took  only 
seventy  millions  annually. 

We  believe  that  this  is  the  first  time  that  a  British 
ministry  has  dared  to  use  such  unconstitutional  lan- 
guage, as,  that  useless  and  expensive  offices  are  to  be 
retained  for  the  sole  purpose  of  upholding  the  influence 
of  the  crown  in  parliament.  And  we  are  quite  certain, 
that  such  an  unconstitutional  declaration  could  not 
have  been  made  at  a  more  unpropitious  period,  than 
when  the  people  of  England  were  staggering  under 
the  burden  of  an  universal  and  oppressive  taxation ; 
and  the  whole  agricultural  interest,  in  particular, 
was  smarting  from  the  pressure  of  unprecedented  dis- 
tress. It  showed  no  peculiar  respect  for  the  public 
opinion  of  Britain,  to  send  forth  such  an  insulting 
avowal. 

But  the  influence  of  the  crown,  that  is  to  say,  of  the 
existing  administration  of  England,  cannot  fail  of  being 
enormous ;  from  the  collection  and  distribution  of  a 
yearly  revenue,  amounting  to  three  hundred  millions 
of  dollars  ;  the  keeping  up  a  numerous  army  and  navy  ; 
the  innumerable  civil  and  judicial  appointments  in  the 
British  Isles,  and  their  immense  colonial  dominions, 
including  the  extensive  empire  in  India ;  and  from  the 
patronage  of  the  united  church  of  England  and  Ireland, 
as  by  law  established. 

Surely,  a  wise  and  equitable  administration  of  such 
immense  means,  power,  and  patronage,  might  give 
to  the  British  executive  sufficient  influence,  without 
having  recourse  to  the  mean  and  miserable  expe- 
dient of  retaining  expensive,  avowedly  useless  offices, 
in  order  to  secure  a  certain  number  of  obedient  votes 
in  the  two  houses  of  the  imperial  parliament.  And 
most  undoubtedly,  the  influence  of  the  British  crown 
would  be  incalculably  augmented,  if  it  would  direct 
its  church  patronage  into  the  channel  of  evangelism. 


rOSTMASTER PUBLIC    OPINION.  3V3 

An  evangelical  hierarcliy,  and  an  evangeUcal  parish 
clergy,  spread  throughont  England  and  Ireland,  -ivould 
prove  a  wall  of  fire,  a  perpetual,  sure  defence  to  the 
monarchy  and  ])eople  of  Britain,  against  all  the  vain 
assaults  of  infidelity,  and  radicalism,  and  anarchy. 

It  is  gratifying  to  know,  that  this  unconstitutional 
avowal  did  not  finally  succeed.  For,  altliougli,  in 
IMarch,  the  motion  to  reduce  one  of  the  postmasters 
general  was  put  down  by  a  ministerial  majority  ;  yet, 
in  the  month  of  JNIay  following,  lord  Normanby  moved, 
that  the  house  of  commons  would  address  the  king, 
praying  him  to  direct,  that  the  office  of  one  of  the  post- 
masters general  be  abolislicd.  And,  after  a  long  and 
obstinate  debate,  notwithstanding  the  pathetic  lamenta- 
tions of  the  chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  that  this  mo- 
tion was  an  attempt  to  procure  indirectly,  what  the 
administration  had  directly  negatived  only  a  few  weeks 
before,  it  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  fifteen.  This 
decision  was  received  by  loud  cheers  throughout  St. 
Stephen's  chapel. 

The  next  clay,  the  marquis  of  Londonderry  appeared 
at  the  bar,  and  delivered  the  following  reply  from  the 
king  to  the  address  voted  last  night  by  the  house  re- 
specting the  office  of  joint  postmaster  general :  "  the 
king,  having  been  attended  with  the  address  of  the 
house  of  commons  yesterday,  acquaints  the  house,  that 
he  will  give  directions  that  the  salai'y  of  one  of  the 
postmasters  general  shall  forthwith  be  discontinued. 
His  majesty  only  postpones  the  abolition  of  the  office 
of  one  of  the  postmasters,  until  arrangements  shall 
be  made  for  the  due  execution  of  the  office,  under  the 
reduction." 

This  is  a  pleasing  proof,  that  public  opinion  exerts 
a  wholesome  influence  in  England.  Would  that  it 
were  possible  for  public  opinion  to  compel  the  British 
government,  so  to  exercise  its  church  patronage,  as  to 
purify  the  estabHshment  from  the  foul  leprosy  of 
formalism ;  and  to  pour  into  her  aged  veins  the  reno- 


314         NKU'-VOllK    CHURCH    ESTABLISHMENT. 

vating  lifeblood  of  evangelical  piety  ;  that  she  may 
illumine  all  the  Christian  hemisphere  with  pure  and 
apostolic  light. 

But  the  experiment  of  an  established  church  has 
been  tried  in  America ;  and  with  the  usual  success  of 
jiromoting  discord  and  diminishing  religion. 

In  the  year  169.':^,  colonel  Fletcher,  governor  of  the 
then  province  of  New-York,  planned  an  establishment 
in  favour  of  the  episcopal  church.  At  that  time,  the 
episcopalians  in  the  colony  were  very  feiv ;  residing 
chiefly  in  the  city  of  New- York,  and  the  neighbouring 
counties.  They  consisted,  almost  entirely,  of  tlic  of- 
ficers of  government  and  their  dependents,  and  some  of 
the  military  ;  that  is,  in  other  words,  official  test  act 
churchmen. 

The  I3utch  church,  at  that  period,  was  the  pre- 
dominant sect,  as  to  numbers,  wealth  and  respecta- 
bility. Governor  Fletcher  found  the  house  of  assem- 
bly decidedly  hostile  to  his  scheme,  on  its  first 
proposal.  But  as  every  public  body  has  always  its 
full  complement  of  weak  members,  by  duping  some, 
and  bullying  others,  he  at  length  wrung  a  reluctant 
assent,  by  a  lean  majority  ;  and  on  the  21st  of  Sep- 
tember, 1693,  an  act  was  passed,  estahlisJung  the  epis- 
copal church  in  the  city  and  county  of  New-York, 
and  in  the  counties  of  Westchester,  Queens,  and 
Richmond. 

The  act  was  drawn,  and  the  whole  device  managed 
with  the  due  proportion  of  pious  fraud.  The  inha- 
bitants of  the  counties  mentioned  were  directed  to 
choose  annually  ten  vestrymen  and  two  church- 
wardens, who  were  empowered  to  elect  the  clergy 
for  each  district ;  and,  to  support  these  clergy,  a 
certain  sum  was  assessed  on  the  inhabitants  gene- 
rally, of  all  denominations,  in  each  county.  The  act 
did  not  explicitly  enjoin  the  choice  of  episcopal  mi- 
nisters; and  by  an  explanatory  act,  passed  some 
years  afterwards,  it  was  declared,  that  dissenters 
might  be  chosen.     But  by  lodging  the  choice  in  the 


VIRGINIA    CnUIlCH    ESTABLISHMENT.         315 

hands  of  the  vestrymen  and  churchwardens,  the  elec- 
tion of  episcopal  clergy  was  ensured;  and  such,  in 
fact,  always  were  appointed. 

Thus,  from  the  year  1693  to  1776,  a  period  of 
eighty-three  years,  the  Dutch  and  English  preshy- 
terians,  and  all  other  nonepiscopalians,  in  the  coun- 
ties of  New- York,  \Vestchester,  Queens,  and  Rich- 
mond, besides  supporting  their  own  churches,  were 
compelled  to  contribute  to  the  support  of  the  esta- 
blished episcopal  church. 

This  church  establishment,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
drew  from  the  other  denominations,  many  converts 
whose  unchanged  and  formal  hearts  preferred  the 
temporal  advantages  of  belonging  to  the  state  sect, 
to  remaining  with  the  proscribed  denominations,  how- 
ever sound  in  evangelical  doctrine ;  however  pure  in 
practical  piety.  The  consequence  was  a  continual 
clashing  of  hostile  sects,  and  a  grievous  declension 
of  real  religion.  This  establishment  was  broken  up 
by  the  revolution ;  since  which  there  has  been  an 
increasing  harmony  among  the  various  Christian 
denominations ;  and  a  considerably  increased  dif- 
fusion of  vital  piety,  throughout  the  community  at 
large. 

In  Virginia,  a  church  establishment  was  tried  on  a 
much  larger  scale,  for  it  pervaded  the  whole  pro- 
vince. And  its  result  affords  the  same  historical 
proof  in  this  country,  which  has  been  so  long  afford- 
ed iu  England ;  of  the  efficacy  of  formalism  in  de- 
stroying, and  of  evangelism  in  building  up  religious 
bodies. 

Prior  to  the  revolution,  the  protestant  episcopal 
church  was  established  in  Virginia,  under  the  most 
favourable  external  circumstances.  An  ample  pro- 
vision was  made  for  the  maintenance  of  the  clergy, 
who  were,  generally,  regularly  bred  clerks,  sent  over 
from  the  state  church  in  England;  and  Virginia  was 
deemed  to  be  an  integral  part  of  the  diocese  of  the 
bishop  of  London.  These  established  clergy,  how- 
ever, by  persevering  in   a  resolute   system   of  formal- 


316  ENGLISH    STATE    CHURCH. 

ism,  accompanied  with  a  corresponding  secular  life, 
soon  demolished  episcopacy  in  that  important  section  of 
the  Union. 

Of  late  years,  after  a  long  night  of  entire  prostra- 
tion, the  protestant  episcopal  churcli  has  risen  from  its 
ashes,  in  that  state,  under  the  auspices  of  its  evange- 
lical bishop  ;  and  an  evangelical  clergy,  treading  in  the 
footsteps  of  their  venerable  diocesan.  And,  at  this 
moment,  there  is  no  other  portion  of  the  United  States, 
where  the  American-Anglo-Church  flourishes  so  much, 
and  increases  so  rapidly. 

And  to  say  truth,  in  all  the  other  dioceses,  wherever 
the  clergy  preach  the  evangelical  doctrines  of  their 
own  articles  and  homilies,  tlieir  churches  are  fdled, 
and  numbers  continually  added  to  their  communion. 
While  tlie  formalists,  like  their  brethren  in  England, 
either  empty  the  churches  which  they  find  full,  or 
never  fill  those  which  they  find  empty;  and  then 
shake  their  sagacious  heads  in  utter  surj)rise,  at  the 
rapid  growth  of  other  denominations,  whose  minis- 
ters propound  the  doctrines  of  the  Cross,  faithfully, 
fervently,  zealously. 

Hence,  we  conclude,  that  the  recipe  of  a  church 
establishment,  prescribed  by  the  Enghsh  doctors,  is 
not  an  infallible  remedy  for  tliat  loiv  state  of  American 
religion,  which  they  so  confidently  announce  and  so 
pathetically  deplore. 

The  truth  is,  a  national  church  establishment,  in- 
variably, adds  to  the  natural  formalism  of  man,  the 
necessary  secularity  of  a  secular  government,  and  a 
secular  patronage;  whence,  it  is  scarcely,  if  at  all, 
possible,  under  such  a  system,  to  keep  alive  a  gene- 
ral spirit  of  piety,  throughout  the  great  body  of  the 
national  communion.  How  far  the  alliance  between 
church  and  state,  the  pluralities,  the  gross  inequal- 
ity in  the  revenues  of  the  different  bishoprics  and 
benefices,  the  translations  from  see  to  see,  the  sine- 
cures, in  the  shape  of  deanries,  canonries,  prebends, 
and  other  ?i07iefFective  appointments,  in  conjunction 
with    the  mode  of  ecclesiastical  provision,  is  calculated 


EAT^T.TER    INIETHODISTS.  TJl? 

to  subserve  the  cause  of  real  Christianity,  may  be 
seen  from  the  actual  state  of  religion  in  the  English 
and  Irish  establishments,  now,  after  all  the  advantages 
derived  to  them  from  the  frequent  revivals  of  evangelical 
piety,  which  have  taken  place  in  those  two  countries, 
during  the  last  eighty  years  ;  which  revivals,  it  cannot 
be  too  often  repeated,  the  Anglican  and  Hibernian 
state  churches  have  unceasingly  laboured,  and  do  now 
endeavour,  to  depress,  and  to  destroy. 

What  tlie  condition  of  religion,  in  the  English  church 
establishment,  was,  prior  to  the  year  1740,  may  be  gather- 
ed from  the  Decades  of  Mr.  I^liddleton,  who  says  :  that 
spirit  is  justly  chargeable  with  bitterness,  which  can 
roundly  condemn  the  innovating  zeal  of  the  earlier 
methodists ;  when  reference  is  made  to  the  formal, 
inclltcient,  injidet  profession  of  the  day,  and  an  in- 
voiuntarv  admiration  is  excited  at  the  expeditions  of 
such  men  as  the  two  Wesleys,  llelamotte,  Ingham, 
and  ^^''hitficld ;  prompted  by  regard  to  the  souls  of 
their  fellow-men. 

Nor  was  the  miserable  wit  of  the  "  Spiritual  Quixote," 
and  the  "  Minor,"  competent  to  invalidate  the  de- 
cree passed  upon  their  hallowed  undertaking  in  the 
cooler  moments  of  reflection.  Their  zeal,  in  the  first 
instance,  was  excellent.  And  credit,  in  particular, 
is  due  to  the  repeated  declarations  of  attachment 
to  the  national  church,  made  by  the  two  rival  Refor- 
mers; the  sin  of  whose  evangelism,  however,  was 
never  forgiven  by  the  dignitaries  of  the  establish- 
ment ;  and,  at  length,  forced  them  to  a  reluctant  sepa- 
ration. 

The  stir  they  created  was  good;  they  quickened 
an  inert  mass  of  established  religion ;  they  carried 
light,  and  heat,  and  life,  into  regions  of  darkness, 
and  cold,  and  death.  By  compelling  their  formal  op- 
])onents  to  examine  the  long  neglected  doctrines  of 
the  Ane-lican  Church,  thev  raised  the  tone  of  theolo- 
gical  instruction.  Some  of  the  state  clergy  them- 
selves  were   awakened   to   a  sense  of  the  importance 


318  OXFOllD    EXPULSION. 

of  their  ministerial  office,  by  the  exhortation  and  ex- 
amples of  those  very  men,  whom  they  were  taught 
by  their  ecclesiastical  superiors  to  execrate  as  dan- 
gerous fanatics,  and  seditious  schismatics,  and  horri- 
ble heretics.  While  others  were  led,  from  the  mere 
proximity  of  a  popular  minister,  to  emulate  his  doc- 
trine, to  imitate  his  diligence,  and  to  preach  Jesus 
Christ,  and  him  crucified.  Thus,  gradually,  did  the 
jflame  of  evangelism  spread  its  holy  illumination  over 
the  dark  recesses  of  a  formal  church  establishment. 

And  very  gradually,  and  slowly,  did  this  flame 
spread ;  for  about  thirty  years  after  the  fiist  rise  of 
Wesley  and  Whitfield,  and  their  fellow-labourers  in 
the  Gospel  vineyard,  namely,  on  the  11th  day  of 
March,  1768,  a  solemn  convocation  was  held  in  Ox- 
ford, by  the  vice-chancellor  and  some  heads  of  houses  ; 
when,  after  a  hearing  of  several  hours,  sentence  of 
expulsion  was  formally  pronounced  against  six  of  the 
junior  members  of  St.  Edmund  Hall,  "for  holding 
methodistical  tenets,  and  taking  upon  them  to  pray, 
read,  and  expound  the  Scriptures,  and  singing  hymns 
in  a  private  house." 

It  appeared,  on  the  investigation,  that  the  young 
gentlemen  so  severely  punished,  were  highly  distin- 
guished for  their  religious  and  moral  conduct ;  so  that 
the  whole  amount  of  the  crime  charged,  was  a  con- 
Mr  uctive  breach  of  some  academic,  or  ecclesiastical 
canons.  Dr.  Dixon,  late  of  Queen's,  and  principal 
of  Edmund  Hall,  pleaded  in  their  defence;  showed 
how  pious  and  exemplary  was  their  conduct;  and 
that  their  tenets  were  in  strict  conformity  with  the 
thirty-nine  articles.  Another  respectable  head,  of 
a  college  observed,  that  their  fault  arose  from  ex- 
cess of  devotion  ;  and  if  these  six  gentlemen  are  to 
be  expelled  for  having  too  much  religion,  it  will  be 
proper  to  enquire  into  the  conduct  of  some,  who  have 
too  little. 

This  was  a  just  reflection  on  the  scandalously  relaxed 
discipline,  in   the  university  of  Oxford,    in  regard  to 


MR.    WEI-I.ING.  319 

the  personal  morality  of  its  students.  About  the  same 
time  that  these  six  young  men  were  visited  with  the 
wrath  of  this  great  nursing  mother  of  the  English 
church  establishment,  for  the  sin  of  praying,  and  read- 
ing, and  expounding  the  Bible,  and  singing  hymns,  a 
JNIr.  Welling  had  been  charged  on  oath,  with  reviling 
the  Scriptures,  and  ridiculing  the  miracles,  on  the  eve 
of  his  ordination  as  an  Anglican  deacon,  and  was  ex- 
cused by  these  sanctimonious  dignitaries  of  the  es- 
tablished church,  on  the  plea  of  inloxication ;  tliereby 
showing,  that  blasphemy  and  drunkenness  are  better 
qualifications  for  admission  into  a  state  church,  than 
sound  piety  and  pure  morals. 

All  defence  of  these  young  evangelicals  was  overruled, 
and  the  vice-chancellor  told  their  chief  accuser,  that 
the  university  was  much  obliged  to  him  for  his  good 
work.  The  sentence  was  pronounced  in  the  chapel, 
on  James  IMatthews,  Thomas  Jones,  Joseph  Shipman, 
Benjamin  Kay,  Erasmus  Middleton,  and  Thomas 
Grove ;  for  the  crimes  above  mentioned,  we  David 
Durell,  D.  D.  vice-chancellor  of  the  university,  and 
visitor  of  the  hall ;  Thomas  Handolph,  D.  D.  president 
of  C.  C.  C.  ;  Thomas  Fothergill,  D.  D.  provost  of 
Queen's  college;  Thomas  Nowcll,  I).  D.  principal  of 
St.  Mary's  hall ;  and  the  Rev.  Thomas  Atterburv, 
A.  INI.  of  Christ  church,  senior  proctor,  deem  each  of 
them  worthy  of  being  expelled  the  hall ;  I  therefore, 
by  my  visitatorial  power,  do  hereby  pronounce  them 
expelled." 

Of  course,  the  friends  of  religion  were  shocked  at 
such  conduct  in  the  chief  nursery  of  the  national  church 
establishment.  Mr.  Hill,  Mr.  Whitfield,  JMr.  Towns- 
end,  and  some  other  gentlemen,  addressed  letters  on 
the  subject  to  Drs.  Durell  and  Nowell.  The  apology 
offered  by  the  friends  of  expulsion  was,  that  the  young 
men  had  broken  the  statutes  of  the  university.  But 
this  plea  came  with  rather  a  bad  grace  from  those 
reverend  divines,  who  most  scrupulously  abstained 
from    expelling   any   of  their   students,   for  swearing, 


320  DIIS.    NOWELL    AND    DURELI-. 

or  g^imbliiig,  or  drunkenness,  or  fornication ;  which 
should  seem  not  to  be  less  irregular,  though  so  much 
more  common,  than  extemporary  praying,  singing 
hymns,  and  expounding  the  Scriptures,  among  the 
Oxford  gownsmen. 

This  flagitious  act  exposed  the  university  to  the 
grave  rebuke  of  bishop  Florne,  and  to  the  airy  ridi- 
cule of  the  Rev,  John  Macgowan's  "  Shaver."  It 
was  evident,  from  Dr.  No  well's  learned  and  elabo- 
rate answer  to  sir  Richard  Hill,  that  it  is  less  criminal, 
less  impious,  and  much  safer,  for  an  Oxford  student 
to  revile  the  character,  and  ridicule  the  miracles  of 
Christ  and  Moses,  than  to  pray  in  private  houses, 
without  a  printed  book.  The  eloquent  and  erudite 
orator  of  the  university,  gives  a  full  account  of  the 
case  of  Mr.  Welling,  his  own  particular  friend,  who 
was  charged,  upon  oath,  with  reviling  and  ridiculing 
the  Scriptures. 

The  proof  was  so  direct  against  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wel- 
ling, that  he  did  not  attempt  to  deny  the  charge. 
Was  he  expelled  ?  No.  Why  not  ?  Because  he 
pleaded  that  he  was  drii7ik,  when  he  uttered  the  blas- 
phemy and  the  ribaldry  charged  against  him.  The 
eandidate  for  holy  orders  in  the  established  church  of 
England  was  drunk,  when  he  ridiculed  revealed  reli- 
gion, and  blasphemed  the  name  of  its  Almighty 
founder;  and  yet  he  was  admitted  into  orders,  and 
continued  a  member  of  the  Oxford  university,  while 
six  students  were  expelled  for  praying  and  singing 
hymns,  and  expounding  the  Bible ;  by  the  same  re- 
verend dignitaries  of  the  Anglican  Church,  who  tried 
Welling  for  blasphemy  and  bawdry,  and  acquitted  him 
because  he  was  drunk ;  pardoned  him  one  crime,  for 
committing  another. 

It  is  thus,  that  a  national  church  establishment 
promotes  piety,  and  prevents  heathenism,  in  a  coun- 
try? 

It  appears,  also,  from  Dr.  Durells  defence  of  Mr. 
Welling,  that  private  religious  meetings  are  in  much 
worse   odour   at  Oxford,  than    taphouses    and  taverns ; 


CHKCK    TO    EVANGELISM.  321 

for  the  six  young  gentlemen  were  expelled  for  prny- 
ing  in  a  private  house;  while  Mr.  Welling's  getting 
drunk  in  a  taphouse  was  deemed  a  valid  excuse  for 
his  having  blasphemed  and  ridiculed  the  Christian 
religion,  a  sufficient  reason  why  he  should  be  admitted 
to  holy  orders,  and  continue  a  member  of  the  university. 
I  do  not  know  if  the  British  government  afterwards 
made  JMr.  \\'^elling  into  a  bishop. 

Mr.  ]\Iiddleton,  although  he  objects  to  the  style  of 
sir  Richard  Hill,  and  to  the  light  manner  in  which 
jNIacgowan  treats  so  serious  a  subject,  yet  acknow- 
ledges that  the  sentence  of  ex])ulsion,  passed  against 
the  six  students  of  Edmund  hall,  was  neither  propor- 
tionate, nor  humane,  nor  wise.  ISot  proportionate, 
because  it  applied  the  extreme  of  punishment,  to  an 
offence  confessedly  of  no  flagrant  order,  involving  no 
moral  turpitude,  but  consisting  of  practices,  which,  if 
violating  any  academic  rules,  would,  most  probably, 
have  been  discontinued,  through  kind  remonstrance,  or 
positive  injunction. 

Not  humane,  because  it  summarily  deprived  them  of 
the  support  and  respectability  anticipated  from  their 
ministerial  office.  Not  wise,  because  it  was  directly 
calculated  to  oppose  an  effectual  barrier  to  episcopal 
ordination  ;  and  thus  reduce  the  sufferers  to  the  alter- 
native of  renouncing  a  profession,  on  which  they  had 
fixed  their  fondest  hope,  or  seeking  to  exercise  it  among 
the  dissenters. 

The  resistless  inference  from  these  facts  is,  that 
the  expidsion  of  these  six  students  was  intended  as  a 
check  to  those  serious  and  evangelical  views  of  reli- 
gion, which  were  gradually  gaining  ground  in  Eng- 
land, and  l)cginning  to  disturb  even  the  death-sleep 
of  formalism,  in  which  the  established  clnirch  had 
so  long  reposed  ;  that  evangelism,  whicJi  was  more 
offensive  to  those  reverend  judges  and  dignitaries  of 
the  Anglican  establishment,  than  blasphemy,  and  ri- 
baldry, and  drunkenness,  combined.  Their  hatred 
and  horror  of  pure.  Scriptural  rehgion,  induced 
them   to   stain  the  archives  of  a  protestaut  university. 

Y 


593  SIR    ROBERT    WALPOI.E. 

in  the  eighteenth  century,  with  the  indelible  disgrace 
of  this  flagitious  sentence. 

But  thus  must  it  ever  be,  while  an  intimate  political 
alliance  with  the  state  continues  to  secularize  the 
church.  Men  immersed  in  the  schemes  and  intrigues 
of  secular  policy,  cannot  easily  look  upon  the  clerical 
order  in  any  other  light,  than  as  so  much  machinery, 
to  be  moved  by  the  civil  government  for  state  pur- 
poses. Hence,  when  sir  Robert  AValpole  wanted  all 
the  votes  of  the  episcopal  bench,  to  carry  a  particu- 
lar measure  in  the  house  of  lords,  he  desired  the 
archbishop  of  Canterbury  to  be  indisposed,  and  keep 
his  chamber  for  a  few  days. 

Accordingly,  his  grace  became  indisposed  ;  and 
the  premier  caused  it  to  be  whispered,  that  the  indis- 
position of  the  present  incumbent,  would  probably 
soon  make  a  vacancy  at  the  Lambeth  palace.  The 
•whole  bench  of  bishops,  in  person  and  by  proxy,  voted 
for  the  proposed  measure ;  and  the  archbishop  immedi- 
ately recovered  from  his  ministerial  illness. 

There  can  be  no  remedy  for  this  crying  evil,  so  long 
as  the  British  government  continues  to  appropriate  to 
itself  the  ^apa/  usurpation  of  manufacturing  bishops. 
Mr.  Sharp,  in  a  long  note,  towards  the  close  of  his 
*'  Law  of  Retribution,"  gives  a  detailed  account  of  the 
apostolical  and  primitive  catholic  church  of  Christ, 
which  always  maintained  the  natural  and  just  right  of 
the  clergy  and  people  of  every  diocese,  to  elect  their 
own  bishops,  for  above  five  hundred  years  after  the 
establishment  of  it ;  until  the  church  of  Borne  began 
its  baneful  exertions  to  invade  and  sup})ress  that  just 
and  important  right. 

It  is  evident,  in  how  secular  a  light  the  British  go- 
vernment views  the  P^nglisli  church,  by  its  habitual 
prostitution  of  the  most  solemn  Christian  ordinance 
to  purposes  m.erely  political.  A  .sacramental  test  is 
required  as  an  indispensable  qualification  for  all  offices, 
civil,  military  and  naval.  The  lord  high  chan- 
cellor of  England,  the  commander-in-chief  of  the 
British   army,  and   the  highest  admiral  in  the  navy 


SACRAMENTAL    TEST.  S*."* 

in  coninion  with  the  lowest  exciseman,  foot  soldier,  nr,d 
marine;  nuist  receive  the  sacrament  of  the  I^ord's  Sup- 
per, administered  according  to  tlie  mode  of  the  church 
of  England ;  before  they  can  enter  upon  their  respective 
services  and  duties. 

Now,  this  ])erpetual  profanation  of  tlic  last,  dying 
injunction  of  the  Redeemer,  is  a%  foolish  as  it  is  wicked; 
because  its  only  effect  is  to  exclude  from  the  service  of 
the  British  government,  honest  men,  who  are  too  con- 
scientious to  take  the  test,  for  the  sake  of  their  own 
emolument.  For  it  opens  wide  the  door  of  entrance  to 
every  deist,  and  atheist,  and  hy]>ocrite,  and  profligate, 
who  will  swallow  the  sacrament,  or  any  thing  else,  for 
the  purpose  of  forwarding  his  own  schemes  of  personal 
interest  and  aggrandizement. 

Nevertheless,  while  I  willingly  bear  testimony  to  the 
zeal,  and  ability,  and  faithfulness,  with  winch  so  many 
clergy  of  all  denom.inations,  in  these  United  States, 
discharge  the  duties  of  their  sacred  calling  ;  it  must  be 
acknowledged,  as  a  flict,  forced  upon  the  daily  and  hour- 
ly experience  of  every  observing  person,  that  the  Ame- 
rican population,  docs  fearfully  outrun  the  means  of  re- 
ligious instruction.  It  is  surmised,  that  one-third  oi 
the  entire  population,  black  and  white,  live  and  die 
without  participating  in  any  of  the  ordinances  of  Chris- 
tianity. iVnd  this  awful  consideration  alone,  ought  to 
be  a  sufficient  incitement  to  the  American-Anglo- 
Churcli  to  exert  all  her  efforts  to  send  fortli  an  evan- 
gelical clergy,  into  the  waste  and  desert  places  of  their 
destitute  fellow-countrymen. 

In  the  year  1816,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Mason  called  the 
attention  of  the  public  to  tlie  religious  icants  of  the 
Union  :  an  alarming  evil,  the  existence  of  which,  how- 
ever, he  does  not  attribute  to  there  being  7W  national 
church  establishment  in  this  country.  He  imputes  the 
blame  arising  out  of  this  condition  of  tilings,  in  a  great 
measure,  to  the  sectarian  spirit  which  pervades  and  pol- 
lutes too  many  of  our  religious  communions.  But  achurch 
establishment  is  always,  emphatically  and  exclusively, 
sectarian  ;    and  therefore  peculiarly  calculated    to  pro- 

Y  2 


324  SPIIUT    01     SECT. 

mote  and  perpetuate  the  irreligiou  and  heathenism  of 
a  people. 

The  established  church  of  England  has  always,  sys- 
tematically, opposed  and  discouraged  those  very  religious 
efforts,  which  Dr.  Mason  so  justly  considers  as  forming 
the  true  glory  of  Britain  ;  for  example,  Bible  societies, 
Missionary  institutions,  both  foreign  and  domestic,  and 
revivals  of  religion.  All  of  which,  we  regret  to  say, 
are  too  little  regarded  by  the  American- Anglo-Church  ; 
while  they  are  hailed,  and  cherished,  and  forwarded,  by 
the  other  denominations,  presbyterian,  congregational, 
methodist,  baptist ;  all  of  which  })rosper  and  increase, 
in  proportion  as  they  promote  the  cause  of  pure  evan- 
gelism. 

The  only  possible  way  of  doing  justice  to  Dr.  JNIa- 
son's  sentiments  upon  this  important  subject,  is  to  give 
them  in  his  own  earnest,  eloquent,  irresistible  language; 
as  expressed  towards  the  close  of  his  unanswerable  Plea 
for  catholic  or  Christian  communion. 

The  spirit  of  sect  hinders  the  churches  which  it 
governs  from  co-operating  together  to  promote  the 
kingdom  of  God.  In  the  United  States,  where,  gene- 
rally speaking,  there  is  no  legal  provision  for  the  main- 
tenance of  religion,  and  especially  among  the  new  settle- 
ments, there  is  frequently,  in  very  small  districts,  a 
confluence  of  people  ^xom  various  denominations.  Their 
junction  makes  a  flourishing  town,  and  ivould  make  a 
flourishing  church.  They  agree  in  primary,  and  dis- 
agree in  secondary  principles  ;  but  they  will  not,  for  the 
sake  of  the  former,  lay  aside  their  contests  about  the 
latter.  Collectively,  they  are  able  to  support  the  Gos- 
pel in  comfort  and  dignity ;  separately,  they  cannot 
support  it  at  all. 

They  will  not  compromise  their  smaller  diff*erences. 
Every  one  must  have  his  own  way ;  must  be  completely 
gratilied  in  his  predilections.  The  rest  must  come  to 
him ;  he  will  neither  go  to  them,  nor  meet  them  upon 
common  ground.  And  the  result  is,  that  they  all  ex- 
perience alike,  not   a  famine  of  bread,  nor  a  thirst  of 


WANT    OF    ORDINANCES.  3^5 

Water,  but  of  hearing  the  word  of  the  Lord.  Sanctuary 
they  have  none.  They  lose,  by  degrees,  their  anxiety 
for  the  institutions  of  Christ.  Their  feeble  substitutes, 
their  small  social  meetings,  without  the  ministers  of 
grace,  soon  die  away.  Their  Sabbaths  are  pagan  ;  their 
children  grow  up  in  ignorance,  in  unbelief,  and  in  vice. 
Their  land,  which  smiles  around  tliem,  like  the  garden 
of  God,  presents  an  unbroken  scene  of  spiritual  desola- 
tion. 

In  the  course  of  one  or  two  generations,  the  know- 
ledge of  God  is  almost  obliterated ;  the  name  of  Jesus 
is  a  foreign  sound  ;  his  salvation  an  occult  science  ;  and 
while  plenty  crowns  their  board,  and  health  invigorates 
their  bodies,  the  bread  of  life  blesses  not  their  table, 
and  moral  pestilence  is  sweeping  their  souls  into  death. 
All  this  from  the  idolatry  of  our  church.  They  might 
have  had  Christ  at  the  expense  oi  sett.  They  preferred 
sect,  and  are  without  Christ  How  far  the  mischief 
shall  proceed,  God  only  can  tell.  It  is  enough  to  fill 
our  hearts  with  grief,  and  sliake  them  witli  terror,  that, 
from  the  combination  of  this  with  other  causes,  we  have 
already  a  population  of  some  viillions  of  our  own  colour, 
flesh  and  blood,  nearly  as  destitute  of  evangelical  mer- 
cies, as  the  savage,  who  yells  on  the  banks  of  the  iMis- 
souri. 

See  on  this  subject  an  interesting  tract  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Lyman  Beccher,  "  On  the  importance  of  assisting 
young  men  of  parts  and  talents,  in  obtaining  an  educa- 
tion for  the  Gos])el  ministry."  The  ingenious  and  in- 
quisitive author  has  calculated,  from  various  data,  that 
out  of  the  ei^ht  millions  of  souls,  which  compose  the 
population  of  the  United  States,  five  millions  are  either 
utterly  without  the  stated  ordinances  of  the  Gospel ; 
or,  are  consigned  to  the  most  illiterate  ministrations. 

Supposing  his  calculations  to  exceed  the  fact,  as  it  is 
difficult  to  be  accurate  on  so  great  a  scale  ;  yet  with  every 
reduction,  which  fastidiousness  itself  can  require,  the 
result  is  sufficient  to  alarm,  to  appal,  and  almost  to 
overwhelm  a  Christian,  who  compares  the  ratio  of  our 


326  EVANGELIZING    THE    EARTH. 

increasing'  population,  with  the  probable  supply  of  the 
means  of  grace.  Several  causes  have,  no  doubt,  con- 
curred in  producing  our  deplorable  state ;  but  that 
sectarian  jealousies  have  not  withheld  their  full 
amount  of  influence,  seems  not  to  admit  of  a  ques- 
tion. The  churches  have  been  in  a  profound  sleep, 
as  to  this  momentous  concern.  The  good  God  awaken 
them  with  his  own  voice ;  for  every  other  is  wasted  on 
the  wind.  > 

When  sectarian  jealousy  and  pride  lead  professing 
Christians  thus  to  sacrifice  themselves  and  their  chil- 
dren, it  would  be  vain  to  look  for  their  concurrence 
in  generous  efforts  for  the  good  of  others.  How  much 
yet  remains  to  be  done,  before  tlie  earth  sliall  be 
full  of  the  knovv'ledge  of  Jehovah,  as  the  waters  cover 
the  sea ;  how  much  before  it  fill  tlic  corners  of  every 
Christian  country;  it  would  be  superfluous  to  show. 
Darkness  covers  the  earth ;  and  thick  darkness  the 
people,  ^lillions  after  millions  go  down  to  the  grave 
unacquainted  with  the  grace  which  bringeth  salva- 
tion ;  uncheered  by  the  hope  which  conquers  death. 

If  the  world  receive  the  knowledge  of  the  only  true 
God,  and  Jesus  Christ,  whom  he  hath  sent ;  they 
must  owe  the  blessing  to  those  who  already  enjoy  the 
words  of  eternal  life.  If  the  banner  of  the  cross  ever 
wave  triumphantly  over  the  last  battlements  of  idola- 
try, it  must  be  planted  by  hands  which  have  been 
washed  in  the  blood  of  the  cross.  If  the  doctrines  of 
kindness  and  peace  shall  humanize  the  habitations  of 
cruelty,  and  subdue  the  sons  of  blood,  they  must  flow 
from  the  lips  of  those,  who  have  tasted  that  the  Lord 
is  gracious. 

Here  is  a  field  large  enough  for  their  labours  ;  an 
object  worthy  of  their  zeal.  Here  are  conquests  to 
be  achieved,  infinitely  more  splendid  than  any  which 
signalize  the  heroes  of  the  sword ;  and  a  recom- 
pense of  reward,  as  far  above  their  brightest  ho- 
nours, as  the  crown  of  glory,  which  fadeth  not  away, 
is  better  than  the  breath  of  a  man  that  shall  die,  and 


EFrOIlTS    OF    BRITAIN.  327 

the  son  of  man  that  shall  become  as  grass.  The  en- 
terprise is  stupendous  ;  the  thought  is  awful.  Yet 
awful  and  stupendous  as  they  are,  the  thought  is  to  be 
embodied  in  fact ;  the  enterprise  to  be  a  matter  of 
history.     So  saith  the  word  of  our  God. 

And  that  Christians,  were  they  hearty  in  the  cause, 
half  as  hearty  as  they  are  in  getting  the  mammon  of 
unrighteousness,  are  able  to  accomplish  that  word,  does 
not  permit  a  doubt.  But  for  its  accomplishment,  there 
must  be  a  union  of  counsels,  of  confidence,  and  of 
strength,  unknown  in  the  church  since  the  days  of 
apostolic  harmony.  To  such  a  union  nothing  can  be 
more  hostile  than  the  spirit  o^  sect.  We  do  hail  indeed 
with  an  exultatioti,  not  unworthy,  we  hope,  of  bosoms 
touched  by  celestial  fire,  the  auspicious  dawnings  of 
such  a  day  of  love. 

The  truly  gracious  efforts,  in  which  the  laud  of  our 
fathers,  the  island  of  Great  Britain,  has  taken  the 
lead ;  and  keeps,  and  seems  destined  to  keep,  the 
pre-eminence,  encourage  us  to  anticipate  things,  which 
many  prophets  and  wise  men  have  desired  to  see,  and 
have  not  seen  them.  Eternal  blessings  on  those  chil- 
dren of  the  truth,  who  have  excited,  wiiat  may  one  day 
prove,  a  general  movement  of  the  church  upon  earth, 
in  order  to  speak  peace  to  the  heathen  !  Upon 
those  benefactors  of  the  nations,  who  have  poured 
their  offerings  into  the  treasury  of  God,  and  have 
joined  their  hands  with  their  opulence,  in  the  glorious 
work  of  sending  the  Bible,  which  teaches  sinners 
what  they  must  do  to  be  saved,  to  all  peoples,  and 
kindreds,  and  nations,  and  tongues.  Upon  those 
vigilant  sons  and  daughters  of  charity,  who  have 
gone  out  into  the  highways  and  hedges  of  the  country  ; 
into  the  streets  and  lanes  of  the  city,  to  seek,  like  their 
adorable  Redeemer,  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost ; 
to  bring  the  Sabbath,  with  its  mercies,  into  the  cabins 
of  the  poor,  and  the  houses  of  the  profane ;  and  to 
train  up,  by  labour  worthy  of  the  Lord's  day,  for  glory, 
honour,  and  immortality,    those  wretched  outcasts,  who 


328  POWER    OF    SECTARIANISM. 

were  candidates  for  infamy  in  this  world,  and  for  perdi- 
tion in  the  next. 

Whose  heart  does  not  swell  with  transport  ? 
whose  lips  do  not  pour  forth  benedictions  ?  who  that 
names  the  name  of  Christ,  can  refuse  his  God  speed  ? 
But  what  do  these  things  involve  ?  and  how  have  they 
been  accomplished  ?  See  it,  O  disciple  of  Jesus, 
and  rejoice  !  They  involve,  they  have  been  accom- 
plished by  the  pi^evalence  of  the  Christian  over  the 
sectaj'ian.  No  such  thing  was  attempted  by  modern 
believers ;  no  such  honours  encircled  their  brow,  till 
the  Sun  of  righteousness  arising  upon  them  with 
healing  in  his  wings,  melted  their  ices,  warmed  their 
soil,  and  made  their  sectarian  wilderness  to  blossom  as 
the  rose. 

Stronger  proof  of  the  baneful  and  blasting  influ- 
ence of  sect  on  the  kingdom  of  God,  no  man  can  ask, 
than  the  fact,  now  notorious  to  the  whole  world,  that 
what  has  been  thus  effected  for  the  one,  has  been 
done  at  the  expense  of  the  other.  If  he  wishes  for 
confirmation,  let  him  cast  his  eyes  around.  Let  him 
see,  in  the  caution,  the  management,  the  address, 
which  Christians  of  a  catholic  spirit  are  obliged  to 
employ ;  in  the  slandei^s  (particularly  those  of  the 
English  state  clergy  generally,  levelled  against  the 
Bible  and  church  missionary  societies,)  which, 
though  refuted  on  the  spot,  and  put  to  deeper  and 
deeper  shame  by  every  moment  of  experience,  still 
rear  their  front,  and  maintain  their  hardihood ;  in  the 
coldness,  shyness,  distance  of  some  Christian  churches, 
who  came  not  yet  to  the  help  of  the  Lord  against  the 
mighty. 

Let  him  see  in  these  things  how  strong  a  rampart 
sectarianism  throws  up  around  the  camp  of  the  devil ! 
Let  him  shiver  with  horror,  when  he  hears,  not  from 
lying  fame,  but  from  unvarnishing  verity,  that  whole 
denominations  are  to  be  found ;  denominations,  sound 
in  the  faith  of  Jesus,  who  are  utterly  unable  to  im- 
part the  Gospel  to  perishing  pagans  and  paganized 
Christians ;  and  who,  nevertheless,  will  7iot  lift  a  fin- 


AMERICAN    RELIGION.  329 

{^cr,  will  not  contribute  a  fartlnng  toward  eulighteiiing 
their  darkness ;  because,  forsooth,  the  candle  cannot  be 
carried  in  t/ieir  candlestick !  What  shall  we,  what 
can  we  say  to  such  reluctance  ?  does  it  admit  of  more 
than  one  interpretation  ?  namely,  that  they  had  rather 
these  their  poor  fellow -sinners  should  sink  down  to  hell, 
under  the  brand  of  the  curse,  than  rise  up  to  heaven, 
with  the  image  and  superscription  of  the  Son  of  God, 
unless  their  own  name  be  entwined  with  his,  in  the 
coronet  of  life  ? 

Since  Dr.  Mason  penned  this  forcible  appeal  to 
the  religious  world,  nearly  all  the  evangelical  deno- 
minations, in  these  United  States,  have  acted  toge- 
ther more  in  harmony  and  concert,  for  the  purpose 
of  diffusing  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel  to  their  pe- 
rishing fellow-men,  both  at  home  and  abroad.  That 
religious  body  of  which  he  has  himself,  for  many 
years,  been  a  most  distinguished  member,  has  lately 
united  with  the  general  presbyterians  ;  and  they  are 
both,  now,  moving  forward,  as  one  great,  concentra- 
ted, evangelical  communion,  to  scatter  the  rays  of 
Scriptural  light,  not  only  over  this  immense  continent, 
but  tln-oushout  the  remotest  recesses  of  the  habitable 
world. 

No  honest  man  will  talk  of  the  low  and  languish- 
ing state  of  religion  in  this,  as  compared  with  any 
other  country;  if  he  has  an  opportunity  of  becoming 
acquainted  with  the  efforts  of  "  the  American  Bible 
Society,"  supported  almost  entirely  by  n  on  episco- 
palians ;  the  American  Anglo-Church,  generally, 
standing  aloof  from  this  labour  of  love,  because  the 
pure  word  of  God,  without  note,  and  without  com- 
ment, cannot  be  carried  in  her  little  candlestick  ;  the 
efforts  of  the  Sunday  school  associations,  to  rescue 
the  rising  hope  of  the  Union  from  the  perdition  of 
ignorance  and  crime ;  the  efforts  of  *'  the  United 
Foreign  ^lissionary  Society,"  composed  of  the  pres- 
byterian  churches ;  of  "  the  American  Board  of 
Commissioners  for  Foreign  INIissions,"  sustained 
chiefly   by    the    congregationalists   of    New-England  ; 


B30  REPORT    OF    GENERAL    ASSEMULY. 

of  the  baptist  and  the  methodist  raissiotiary  societies ; 
of  the  societies  for  promoting  the  Gospel  among  seamen  ; 
to  spread  the  germ  of  everlasting  life  over  the  universal 
earth. 

To  which  add  the  vast  and  continually  increasing 
number  of  evangelical  preacliers,  and  pastors,  in  ail 
the  various  denominations ;  even  in  the  American- 
Anglo  communion  itself,  wliere  tliere  is  still  too  much 
churchmanship,  and  top  little  Christianity ;  and  we 
shall  have  reason  to  rejoice  in  the  hope,  nay,  in  the 
assurance,  that  this  mighty  continent  is  to  make  a 
very  important  portion  of  the  ^Messiah's  kingdom ; 
not  only  enjoying  in  itself  the  inestimable  privilege  of 
the  everlasting  Gospel,  but  raying  out  the  beams  of 
blessedness  to  all  other  nations,  remote  or  near. 

Nevertheless,  there  still  /,y  an  awful  deficiency  of  reli- 
gious instruction  in  these  United  States  ;  as  may  appear 
from  tlie  report  of  the  "  General  Assembly"  of  the 
presbyterian  church,  dated  May  1822.  This  instructive 
and  interesting  document  describes  the  state  of  reli- 
gion within  the  bounds  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
presbyterian  church  ;  and  of  the  General  Association  of 
congregational  churches  in  Connecticut  and  Massa- 
chusetts, and  the  General  Convention  of  the  same  per- 
suasion, in  Vermont,  during  the  year  from  May  1821, 
to  May  1822. 

The  General  Assembly  offers  its  thanksgivinii;s  to 
the  Great  Head  of  the  church,  for  the  blessing  of 
his  presence,  and  the  sanctifying  influences  of  his 
Holy  Spirit,  among  the  various  religious  communions 
Yet  they  deplore  the  luke-warmness,  and  conformity 
to  the  world,  still  too  prevalent  in  professing  Chris- 
tians ;  the  neglect  of  family  prayer,  the  want  of  zeal 
for  extending  the  interests  of  the  Redeemer's  king- 
dom ;  and,  in  some  few  instances,  dissensions  and 
backslidings. 

In  some  parts  of  the  land,  attempts  are  made  to 
propagate  the  most  pernicious  errors.  With  a  zeal, 
worthy  of  a  better  cause,  and  under  lofty  pretensions 
to  a   superior   rationality,  and  to  deeper  discoveries  in 


RATIONAL    CHRISTIANITY.  331 

religion,  some  are  eiuleavoiiriiig  to  take  away  the 
crown  from  the  Redeemer's  head  ;  to  degrade  Him, 
who  is  the  mighty  God,  and  the  Trince  of  life,  to  a 
level  with  mere  men,  and  to  rob  us  of  all  our  hopes 
of  redemption  through  his  blood.  Pretending  too, 
a  more  expanded  benevolence  to  man,  and  more  en- 
nobled ideas  of  the  goodness  and  mercy  of  God,  they 
assiduously  propagate  the  sentiment,  that  all  men 
will  ultimately  obtain  eternal  happiness,  however  sin- 
ful their  present  temper  and  conduct  may  be  ;  with- 
out any  regard  to  the  cleansing  of  the  blood  of 
atonement,  or  the  sanctifying  influences  of  the  Spirit 
of  God. 

Believing  that  these  sentiments  are  utterly  subver- 
sive of  Gospel  truth  and  holiness  ;  that  they  alike  dis- 
honour God,  and  destroy  the  present  and  eternal  wel- 
fare of  men,  the  General  Assembly  warns  its  brethren 
against  them ;  and  exhorts  to  a  steady  attachment  to 
the  truth,  which  is  according  to  godliness. 

The  gross  vices  of  intemperance,  profane  swearing, 
Sabbath  breaking,  and  gambling,  still  extensively  exist. 
The  excessive  use  of  spirituous  liquors,  continues  to 
produce  the  most  deplorable  effects,  and  threatens  still 
greater  injury.  But  the  Assembly  ads^erts  to  one  sub- 
ject with  the  most  painful  feelings.  Vast  sections  of 
the  country,  particularly  the  frontiers,  are  destitute  of 
the  stated  means  of  grace. 

In  the  presbytery  of  Niagara,  there  are  but  four 
pastors  to  tivcnty-six  congregations  ;  in  the  presbytery 
of  Genesee,  only  tx€o  pastors  to  nineteen  congregations, 
of  which  only  one  enjoys  the  stated  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  more  than  half  the  time.  In  the  presbytery  of 
Bath,  the  churches  are  few,  and  most  of  them  destitute 
of  a  ministry ;  there  being  only  six  ministers  in  nearly 
as  many  counties.  Multitudes  are  living  without  God 
in  the  world,  and  paying  not  even  an  outward  respect 
to  the  institutions  of  the  Gospel.  In  many  families 
the  Scriptures  are  not  to  be  found  ;  and  in  too  many 
instances,  no  desire  is  shown  to  possess  them.  In 
many    places,    no    meetings    for    public    worship    are 


332  WANT    or    MlNISTEllS. 

held;    and    in    others,    such   meetings   are    thinly    at- 
tended. 

In  the  presbytery  of  Champlain,  many  towns  are 
destitute  of  a  preached  Gospel,  and  church  privileges  ; 
and  in  the  extensive  presbytery  of  Susquehanna,  there 
are  but  ten  ministers  to  izventy-sia;  widely-scattered 
congregations.  Of  twenty-nine  congregations,  in  the 
presl3ytery  of  Erie,  twenty-one  want  a  stated  ministry  ; 
and  of  thirty-three  congregations,  in  Louisville  pres- 
bytery, above  half  are  in  the  same  condition.  The 
presbytery  of  Union  requires  two  or  three  times  its 
present  number  of  ministers.  In  Grand  River  pres- 
bytery, there  are  only  twelve  ministers  to  twenty-nine 
congregations. 

The  presbytery  of  West  Tennessee,  covering  a  large 
tract,  and  including  a  population  of  310,000  inhabi- 
tants, has  only  fourteen  ministers,  and  no  licentiate. 
The  few  missionaries  who  have  traversed  this  region, 
have  been  well  received;  and  much  solicitude  is  ma- 
nifested to  obtain  a  zealous  and  enlightened  minis- 
try. The  presbytery  of  Missouri  covers  a  country 
nearly  300  miles  square,  and  contains  more  than 
120,000  inhabitants;  and  is  nearly  a  moral  waste. 
Thousands  are  crying  for  the  bread  of  life,  and  many 
new  churches  might  be  formed,  if  there  were  enough 
ftiithful  and  devoted  ministers.  The  presbytery  of 
Mississippi  embraces  the  two  states  of  Mississippi 
and  Louisiana  ;  with  a  population  exceeding  200,000 
souls ;  and  has  only  eight  ministers  and  four  licen- 
tiates. 

Several  important  towns,  rapidly  increasing  in  popu- 
lation and  wealth,  present  interesting  places  for  mis- 
sionary stations.  New-Orleans  contains  46,000  inha- 
bitants, and  is  annually  growing  in  all  kinds  of  re- 
sources. The  short  ministry  of  the  late  lamented 
Mr.  Larned  was  very  useful.  The  presbytery  of 
Georgia,  including  above  half  the  state,  has  only  eight 
ministers  ;  and  in  the  extensive  presbytery  of  Concord, 
the  ordinances  and  institutions  of  religion  arc  hardly 
known. 


RELIGION    IS    INCllEASING.  333 

111  most  of  these  destitute  places,  pernicious  errors 
are  propagated,  and  in  all,  gross  immoralities  abound. 
Removed  from  the  benign  influences  of  Christianity  ; 
without  its  powerful  restraints  ;  destitute  of  Sabbaths 
and  sanctuaries ;  unchecked  by  the  solemn  admoni- 
tions, and  uncheered  by  the  glorious  hopes  of  the 
Gospel,  multitudes  live  in  sin,  and  die  in  impenitence. 
Seldom  does  the  herald  of  salvation  raise  his  in- 
viting voice  among  them  ;  and  seldom  do  the  sounds 
of  prayer  and  praise  ascend  as  grateful  offerings  to 
heaven. 

It  is  gratifying,  however,  to  learn,  that  an  earnest 
desire  is  felt  to  obtain  the  Gospel  ministry  in  these 
destitute  places.  Many  of  the  followers  of  Jesus  pray 
to  Him,  to  send  them  faithful  labourers.  Sabbath 
schools,  and  missionary  and  education  societies,  have 
been  already  established  in  some  parts.  In  some  in- 
stances, the  destitute  congregations  persevere  in  main- 
taining public  worship ;  and  there  is  an  increasing 
attention  to  the  means  of  grace.  In  many  of  these 
places  ministers  have  gone  forth  in  company,  two  or 
three  at  a  time,  and  preached,  and  visited,  and  God  has 
greatly  blessed  their  labours. 

But  let  us  turn  to  brighter  scenes.  With  few  ex- 
ceptions, the  statements  from  the  different  presbyteries 
show  religion  to  be  increasing.  Infidelity  is  scarcely 
any  "where  openly  professed.  Tlie  churches  generally, 
are  walking  in  peace.  There  is  an  increased  at- 
tention to  ])ublic  ordinances ;  and  many  new  con- 
gregations have  been  organized,  and  new  churches 
erected,  throughout  the  Union;  several  in  regions 
which,  a  short  time  since,  were  an  uninhabited  wilder- 
ness. 

The  monthly  concert  for  prayer  is  generally  ob- 
served. Bible  and  catechetical  classes  are  beneficially 
continued.  Baptized  children,  with  their  parents, 
are  often  convened,  and  reminded  of  the  solemn 
obligation  of  the  baptismal  covenant.  Praying  so- 
cieties are  very  generally  established.  Sabbath  schools 
arc    numerous    and     flourishing.       Liberal    patronage 


334  MISSIONS — REVIVALS. 

has  been  extended  to  various  benevolent  and  pious 
institutions ;  and  many  missionary,  and  education, 
and  Bible  societies  are  flourishing  ;  more  especially  the 
American  Bible  society  in  increasing  in  funds  and 
auxiliary  institutions.  Several  societies  to  educate 
poor  and  pious  youth  for  the  Gos})el  ministry, 
have  been  established  durinp-  the  last  vcar;  and  the 
churches  begin  to  awake  to  the  importance  of  this 
subject. 

There  are  several  missionary  associations  of  young 
m,en ; — that  at  Richmond  employed  eight  missionaries 
during  the  last  year.  The  members  of  the  Dialectic 
Society,  students  in  the  university  of  North  Carolina, 
have  contributed  towards  endowing  a  professorship 
in  the  theological  seminary  at  Princeton.  Several 
heathen  children  in  the  island  of  Ceylon,  and  other 
places,  are  fed,  clothed,  and  instructed  by  the  contri- 
butions of  pious  females,  witliin  our  presbyterian 
bounds. 

The  missionary  concerns  are  crowned  with  the 
blessing  of  God.  The  number  of  missionaries  is  in- 
creasing, though  not  sufficiently  to  meet  the  growing 
demands  of  a  rapidly  increasing  population.  The 
presbyterian  seminary  at  Princeton  furnishes  an- 
nually, valuable  missionaries,  whose  labours  are  grate- 
fully received,  and  accompanied  with  a  blessing. 
God,  also,  still  blesses  several  of  our  colleges  with 
the  influences  of  his  Spirit.  At  Hamilton  College, 
a  majority  of  its  hundred  students  are  pious  ; — and  at 
Union  College  seventy,  out  of  two  hundred  and  forty. 

In  addition  to  the  general  increase  of  religion,  spe- 
cial instances  of  revivals  are  enumerated,  in  different 
sections  of  the  Union.  And  it  is  stated,  that  the  be- 
nign effects  of  past  revivals  attend  these.  Profess- 
ing Christians  are  awakened  to  zeal  and  devotcdness 
in  the  cause  of  Christ.  And  though  the  operations 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  minds  of  sinners,  have 
been  diversified,  yet  generally,  they  feel  deep  con- 
victions of  sin,  with   a  sense  of  their  undone  condi- 


PRAYER-    PREACHING.  335 

tion,  as  transgressors  of  the  divine  law,  and  a  discovery, 
that  salvation  can  be  found  onh)  in  Christ. 

Deep  silence  prevails  in  these  religious  assemblies. 
This  blessed  work  is  confined  to  no  particular  age,  or 
sex,  or  class,  blooming  youth  and  hoary  age ;  the  child 
of  seven,  and  the  old  man  weighed  down  with  the  sins 
of  threescore  years  and  ten  ;  the  infidel,  the  profane,  the 
formal,  and  the  moralist,  have  all  been  brought  to  a 
sense  of  their  lost  condition,  and  to  bow  to  the  sceptre 
of  the  Prince  of  life,  and  to  seek  salvation  from  his 
hands,  as  hh  free  gift. 

Among  the  means,  blessed  by  God,  to  the  produc- 
ing of  these  effects,  special  prayer  has  been  signally 
successful.  In  many  congregations,  particular  days 
have  been  set  apart  for  fasting  and  prayer.  Con- 
certs for  prayer  have  been  held  by  private  Chris- 
tians.— Pastoral  visitation,  from  house  to  house,  and 
visitations  by  private  Christians,  with  personal  dis- 
course on  eternal  concerns,  have  been  also  greatly 
blessed.  In  preaching,  the  spirituality  of  God's  law, 
and  its  tremendous  curse  denounced  apainst  sin. 
have  been  explained,  and  pressed  upon  the  con- 
sciences of  sinners  ; — who  have  been  warned  of  their 
inability  to  work  out  a  justifying  righteousness  o^  their 
own,  and  solemnly  exhorted  to  immediate  repentance 
and  faith  in  Christ. 

The  fruits  of  these  revivals  are  exhibited  in  the 
moral  reformation  of  their  subjects  ; — in  an  increase  of 
the  spirit  of  prayer,  and  of  liberality  in  supporting 
the  Gospel. 

The  General  Association  of  Connecticut  shows,  that 
the  churches  in  that  state  are  reaping  the  benefits  of  the 
late  extev.sive,  and  of  continuing  revivals.  A  large 
proportion  of  the  mission  school,  at  Cornwall,  is  hope- 
fully pious:  and  arrangements  are  making  to  extend 
the  theological  department  of  Yale  College. 

The  General  Association  of  Massachusetts  de- 
clares the    increase   of  religion,    within    its    limits  ; 

great  revivals  in   Berkshire; — more  than  three   bun- 


336  SEAMEN — nilNCETON. 

dred  young  men  assisted  by  the  American  Education 
Society  ; — an  increase  of  the  missionary  spirit ;  in  Ply- 
mouth and  Norfolk  counties,  the  establishment  of  a  Pa- 
lestine missionary  society,  which  supports  a  missionary 
to  the  Holv  JLand.  The  Andover  theological  institu- 
tion flourishes,  and  contains  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
two  students. 

The  General  Convention  of  Vermont  shows  the 
interests  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom  to  be  greatly 
on  the  increase  in  that  state.  Yet  the  want  of  faith- 
ful pastors  is  still  felt.  Of  171  churches,  connected 
with  the  Convention,  nearly  half  are  vacant.  But 
the  cause  of  religion  is  advancing.  Through  the 
past  year,  there  have  been  great  and  powerful  re- 
vivals, m  fifty  towns:  in  eacli  of  which,  from  fifteen 
to  two  hundred  persons  have  been  received  into  the 
churches.  These  revivals  still  continue  in  many 
places.  About  tivo  thousand  five  hundred  persons 
have  joined  the  churches,  during  the  past  year.  In 
Middlebury  college  there  has  been  a  revival  among 
the  students,  of  whom  two-thirds  are  pious.  The 
spirit  of  missions  is  increasing  in  the  state  ;  and  educa- 
tion societies  are  formed,  of  which  one  aided  forty 
young  men  in  two  years. 

In  many  cities,  efforts  are  made  to  promote  the 
spiritual  welfare  of  seamen.  Places  of  worship  for 
mariners  are  opened  in  several  seaports  ;  and  both  mari- 
ners themselves  and  their  fjimilies,  have  received 
great  benefit  from  attending  the  public  ordinances  of 
the  Gospel.  The  Assembly  recommends  to  the  mni(t 
ters  and  members  of  its  churches,  to  encourage  an 
promote  these  useful  institutions. 

The  theological  seminary  at  Princeton  still  continues 
to  enjoy^the  smiles  of  the  Great  Head  of  the  church. 
A  missionary  spirit  is  diffused  among  its  students  : 
some  of  whom  have  already  devoted  themselves  to  the 
labours  and  })rivations  of  a  foreign  mission.  The 
churches  are  already  enjoying  the  fruits  of  this  most 
important  institution. 


a:metiican  sects.  337 

The  thooloo'ical  seminary  at  Auburn,  under  the  care 
of  the  synod  of  Geneva,  is  flourishing  ;  and  efforts  are 
making  to  establish  theological  schools  in  other  parts  of 
the  union. 

The  Assembly  congratulates  the  churches  under 
its  care,  on  the  recent  union  between  the  presbyte- 
rian  and  associate  reformed  communions  ;  from  which 
it  augurs  the  most  beneficial  effects  to  the  best  interests 
of  true  religion.  On  the  whole,  the  review  of  the  past 
year  is  calculated  to  awaken  the  liveliest  sensations 
of  gratitude,  for  the  increased  and  increasing  spread 
of  the  everlasting  Gospel,  throughout  the  United 
States. 

It  cannot  be  denied,  that  some  parts  of  this  very 
interesting  report  proclaim  a  deplorable  dearth  of 
presbyterian  clergy,  in  proportion  to  the  extent  of 
their  limits,  and  the  number  of  their  congregations. 
But,  not  now  to  insist  upon  the  bright  prospects  held 
out  in  the  better  half  of  this  imjiortant  document, — 
the  presbyterians  are  not  the  only  religious  denomi- 
nation which  labours  upon  the  ground  marked  out 
in  their  moral  map.  Other  persuasions,  particularly 
the  baptists  and  methodists,  traverse  the  same  regions, 
in  the  service  of  the  same  redeeming  God  ;  and  with 
signal  success. 

The  congregationalists  are  not  numerous,  out  of 
New-England.  And  the  protestant  episcopalians  are 
few  and  feeble,  in  most  parts  of  the  union  ;  particu- 
larly on  the  frontier  settlements,  and  over  the  Alle- 
ghany hills.  Besides,  the  American-Anglo-Church 
is  too  apt,  in  imitation  of  her  established  mother  in 
England,  to  discourage,  and  frown  upon  all  revivals 
in  religion,  all  meetings  for  special  prayer,  and  all 
preaching  of  the  peculiar  doctrines  of  the  Reformation  ; 
more  especially,  the  wholesome  Scriptural  doctrine  of 
justification  by  faith  alone  ;  —  whence,  both  these 
churches  halt  in  their  progress,  while  other  evangelical 
denominations  spring  forward  in  their  career  of  useful- 
ness and  good. 

z 


338  BRITISH    RELIGION. 

But,  in  reference  to  this  subject,  it  might  be  ask- 
ed, how  far  the  great  body  of  the  people  of  England 
would  be  from  heathen  darkness  and  irreligion,  if 
they  were  lefl  entirely  to  the  ghostly  care  of  their  state 
hierarchy  and  state  clergy  ?  Nay,  how  far  is  a  large 
proportion  of  them  from  paganism  now :  when  the 
formalism  of  the  national  church  establishment  is,  in 
some  measure,  continually  counteracted  by  the  evan- 
gelism of  the  method ists,  and  baptists,  and  orthodox 
dissenters? 

Above  all,  xvhat  is  the  amount  of  heathenish  igno- 
rance and  profligacy  in  Ireland,  v/here  the  people 
have  long  enjoyed  the  threefold  benefit  of  a  state 
church,  a  popish  priesthood,  and  a  protestant  dis- 
sent? 

The  remedy,  therefore,  for  the  deficiency  of  religious 
instruction  in  these  United  States  is  not  to  be  found  in 
a  national  church  establishment ; — seeing,  that  for  the 
most  part,  the  people  belonging  to  the  English  and 
Irish  state  churches,  are  xvorse  instructed,  and  mo7~e 
neglected,  than  are  the  members  of  almost  every  other 
religious  community. 

The  principal  evangelical  denominations,  in  these 
United  States,  have  instituted  a  home  mission,  for  the 
purpose  of  supplying  the  deficiency  of  Gospel  ordi- 
nances and  instruction,  throughout  the  country. 
From  which  institution,  we,  undoubtedly,  augur  more 
beneficial  eflfects,  than  from  the  establishment  of  a 
formal,  secular,  state  church.  And  we  should  hail 
it  as  a  token  for  good,  if  the  American- Anglo-Church 
would  imitate  the  zeal,  and  liberality;,  and  catholic 
spirit  of  some  other  Christian  communions,  with  re- 
gard both  to  foreign  and  to  domestic  missions. 

To  say  nothing  of  the  established  church  of  Ire- 
land, and  the  gross,  the  criminal  neglect,  of  so  large 
a  portion  of  her  amply  paid  clergy ;  what  propor- 
tional  good  docs  the  richly  endowed  Anglican  church 
do,  towards  evangelizing  the  people  in  her  ten  thousand 
parishes  ? 


AMERICAN    HOME    MISSION.  339 

On  the  lOth  of  May,  1822,  met  in  the  city  of  New- 
York.,  a  convention  of  delegates,  to  form  a  domestic 
missionary  society.  There  were  present,  delegates, 
both  clerical  and  lay,  from  the  Northern  Missionary 
Society,  the  JNlissionary  Society  of  the  Middle  Dis- 
trict, the  eastern  division  of  the  Youth's  JNlissionary 
Society  of  the  Western  District ;  and  from  those  of  its 
middle  and  western  divisions,  tlie  Nevv'-York  Evan- 
gelical Missionary  Society,  the  Young  Men's  JNlis- 
sionary Society  of  New- York,  the  Genesee  JNlis- 
sionary Society,  and  the  presbytery  of  Albany. 

The  result  of  this  propitious  convention,  was  the 
union  of  the  Evangelical  and  Young  Men's  JNlissionary 
Societies  of  New- York,  and  the  formation  of  "  the 
United  Domestic  JNlissionary  Society."  The  avowed 
object  of  this  society  is  to  spread  the  Gospel  among 
the  destitute,  and  to  assist  congregations  which  are 
unable  to  support  a  Gospel  ministry.  It  also  con- 
templates the  alliance  of  existing  missionary  socie- 
ties throughout  the  state  of  New- York,  and  the  for- 
mation of  auxiliary  associations  in  every  part  of  the 
union.  Its  directors  published  an  able  and  spirited 
address,  calling  upon  the  religious  of  all  denominations, 
to  aid  in  the  great  work  of  evangelizing  the  United 
States.  The  society  has  now,  July  1822,  txventy-nine 
zealous  missionaries,  labouring  in  various  places  to  dif- 
fuse the  light  of  the  ever  blessed  Gospel. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  all  these  laudable  efforts  on 
the  part  of  the  several  evangelical  communions,  in 
these  United  States,  to  christianize  their  country- 
men;— it  is  a  grave  question,  which  every  American 
statesman^  who  knows  and  feels,  that  pure  and  unde- 
filed  religion  is  the  great  sheet  anchor  of  human  so- 
ciety, ought  to  ask — if  there  be  no  safe  and  effectual 
medium  to  be  found,  between  making  one  dominant 
sect,  so  linked  with  the  civil  government,  as  to  con- 
stitute a  mere  political  machine,  in  subordination  to, 
and  at  the  service  of,  the  secular  arm ; — and  the  rul- 
ing powers   completely   disregarding    religion; — mak- 

z  2 


340  NEW-ENGLAND    REGUI-ATIONS. 

iiig  no  provision  for  Gospel  ordinances ; — but  leav- 
ing, so  far  as  relates  to  the  existing  niagistrates,  a 
population,  nominally  Christian,  to  gravitate  into 
speculative,  or  practical  unbelief,  and  actual  pro- 
fligacy ? 

Cannot,  as  in  some  of  the  New-England  states  is 
already  done,  the  American  governments  generally 
provide,  that  in  every  township  throughout  their  re- 
spective jurisdictions,  there  shall  be  some  religious 
ordinances  and  worship ;  still  leaving  to  every  indi- 
vidual the  personal  rights  of  conscience  untouched,  and 
his  own  choice  of  the  particidar  sect,  or  denomination 
of  Christianity,  to  which  he  wishes  to  be  attached, 
uninipaired  ? 

JMr.  Ashmun,  in  his  interesting  and  pious  memoir 
of  the  late  lamented  Rev.  Samuel  Bacon,  principal 
agent  of  the  American  government,  for  persons  H- 
berated  from  slave  ships,  on  the  coast  of  Africa, 
makes  some  judicious  observations,  in  reference  to 
this  subject.  He  says:  the  country  divisions,  through- 
out New-England,  unlike  those  of  most  of  tlie  otlier 
states,  scarcely  serve  any  other  purpose,  than  to 
classify  the  population,  and  define  the  jurisdiction  of 
magistrates  and  inferior  courts.  But  the  corporate 
rights  of  the  towns,  or  sections,  from  four  to  six  square 
railed,  into  which  all  the  counties  arc  subdivided,  are 
guarded  by  the  people  as  the  palladium  of  their  social 
prosperity. 

The  officers  of  these  corporations  are  one,  three, 
or  five  select  men  ;  an  assessor,  a  constable,  a  trea- 
surer, some  tything  men,  a  town  clerk,  and  other  in- 
ferior officers.  They  have  power,  at  their  annual 
town  meetings,  to  pass  any  by-laws  for  their  own  inter- 
nal regulations,  not  inconsistent  with  the  laws  of  the 
state,  and  of  the  United  States  ;  and  to  vote  any  sum 
of  money  for  the  support  of  the  Gospel  and  scliools, 
and  for  the  constructioii  of  roads.  The  constitution 
recognizes  the  duty  of  every  citizen  to  contribute  a 
just  proportion  of  his  property  for  the  maintenance 
of  public  uarship^  and  his  obligation  to  attend  upon  it; 


THE    STANDING    ORDER.  341 

and  every  man  is,  in  effect,  supposed  by  law,  to  be  a 
congregationalist,  until  the  contrary  is  shown ;  there 
being  a  decided  majority  of  that  denomination  in  every 
town. 

The  congregationalists  are  called  "  the  standing  or- 
der."   The  increase  of  otlier  Christian  sects  in  the  state, 
has  raised  loud  complaints  of  the  inconveniences  wliich 
they  experience  from  the  operation  of  this  system.     The 
term   congregationalist,    in  reference    to   the   religious 
societies  of  New-England,   bears   a   peculiar  meaning. 
In  the  original  sense   of  the  word,  baptists,  and   other 
Christian  sects,  are  congregational,  or  independent,  in  their 
church  government,  or  discipline.     But  in  New-Eng- 
land, congregationalist  means  the  original,  and  prevailing 
persuasion,  who  adopt  the   same  system  of  faith,  and 
live    in   Christian  fellowship  with    the    presbyterians; 
from  whom   they  differ  only  in  their  ecclesiastical  order 
and  rule.     The  government  and  affairs  of  their  church 
are  administered  by  the  whole   congregation    of  com- 
municants ;  each  congregation  constituting  a  separate 
and   independent    ecclesiastical   body,    which     neither 
admits,  nor  exercises   the  control  of  any  other.     This 
order  is,  sometimes,  erroneously  called  prcshyterian. 

The  sum  voted  by  the  town  meeting,  is  assessed  on 
the  inhabitants  in  proportion  to  their  property,  and 
forms  part  of  the  aggregate  state  tax  for  religious 
instruction  and  other  purposes,  and  goes  into  the  town 
treasury.  Each  town  is  divided  into  wards  of  nearly 
equal  numbers  as  to  inhabitants,  of  whom  none  are 
more  tlian  two  or  three  miles  from  a  school ;  and  the 
sum  voted  is  divided  proportionally  among  the  several 
wards.  The  select  men,  the  committee  man  of  each 
ward,  and  the  clergymen  of  the  congregational  order^ 
are,  ex  officio,  a  committee,  to  examine  the  town 
schools,  to  report  on  their  proficiency,  and  applaud, 
or  censure,  accordingly. 

In  Massachusetts,  the  Declaration  of  Rights  as- 
sumes, that  "  piety,  religion,  and  morality,"  are  ne- 
cessary for  the  temporal  welfare  of  society  ;  and  that 
the  support  of  the  teachers  and  institutions  of  religion 


342  MASSACHUSETTS    llELIGION, 

is  necessary  to  the  pre^'alence  and  influence  of  religion 
itself.  It  is  declared  to  be  the  duty  of  eve?'y  person 
to  contribute  an  equitable  proportion  towards  the  main- 
tenance of  religious  institutions;  and,  where  no  "con- 
scientious" impediment  exists,  occasionally  to  attend 
some  place  of  public  worship.  It  is  also  declared  to 
be  the  privilege  of  every  town  or  parish,  to  choose  its 
own  religious  teachers  ;  and  among  the  ministers  so 
chosen,  every  individual  may  direct  the  application  of 
Ms  own  tax. 

All  preference  to  any  particular  protestant  sect,  is 
distinctly  disclaimed ;  yet  objections  are  made  to  this 
system,  not  merely  by  the  irreligious,  who  wish  to  see 
Christianity,  under  every  form,  abolished ;  but  also, 
by  some  conscientious  persons,  who,  being  too  weak, 
and  too  few,  in  their  respective  parishes,  to  obtain  and 
provide,  according  to  law,  for  a  minister  of  thei?^  ozmi, 
are  obliged  to  contribute  to  the  support  of  one,  in  whose 
election  they  do  7iot  concur,  and  on  whose  ministrations 
they  do  not  attend. 

But  still  the  expediency  of  the  system  must  be 
tried  by  the  fact  of  its  general  advantages  outweigh- 
ing its  jiartial  inconveniences.  A  majority  of  the 
New-England  states,  vmtil  very  recently,  has  al- 
ways decided  in  favour  of  its  general  beneficial  ten- 
dency. 

Another  class  of  persons  are  honestly  opposed  to 
the  principle  of  any  legal  interference  in  matters  of 
religion.  But  this  is  going  farther  than  the  framers 
of  the  federal  constitution  thought  proper  to  go.  They 
merely  prohibited  the  general  government  from  setting 
up  any  one  particular  Christian  persuasion,  as  the 
dominant  state  sect,  enjoying  the  exclusive  and  odious 
monopoly  of  a  national  church  establishment,  to  the 
proscription  and  depression  of  every  other  religious 
denomination.  The  experience  of  all  human  history 
proves,  that  no  civil  government  can  prosper  without 
the  sanctions  of  religion,  whose  suppoi't,  therefore, 
by  the  public  magistrate,  seems  to  be  a  duty  of  self- 
preservation. 


CONGREGATIONAL    ORDER.  343 

The  union  of  these  two  classes,  in  Massachusetts, 
seconded  by  the  indifference  of  too  many,  to  all  re- 
ligion, and  religious  institutions,  obtained,  in  the  new 
state  constitution,  framed  in  the  year  1821,  a  con- 
siderable modification  of  the  old  law  upon  this  sub- 
ject. 

It  cannot,  indeed,  be  denied,  that  the  congrega- 
tional order,  almost  exclusively  privileged  by  the  ope- 
ration of  the  former  system,  did,  sometimes,  as  domi- 
nant sects  are  apt  to  do,  assert  and  enforce  their 
legal  rights,  in  a  manner  little  calculated  to  conciliate 
the  affections  of  their  dissenting  brethren.  For  ex- 
ample, when  the  clergyman,  for  whose  support  the 
money  was  assessed,  distrained  and  sold  the  goods  of 
those  persons  of  othei'  denominations,  who  refused  to 
pay  the  tax.  This  cast  much  popular  odium  upon 
the  congregational  body  ; — for  it  enabled  the  recusant 
to  employ  the  same  language,  which  an  English  or 
Irish  dissenter  might  most  rightfully  use,  in  relation 
to  the  tithe  tax  of  the  Anglican  and  Hibernian  church 
establishments;  namely — "that  his  goods  had  been 
sacrificed  for  the  support  of  a  religious  system  which  he 
did  not  like, — of  a  clergyman,  whom  he  only  knew  as 
an  oppressor, — of  a  form  of  worship,  which  he  never 
attended." 

The  question  is  of  difficult  solution,  either  way. 
The  evangelical  dispensation,  doubtless  demands  the 
voluntary  contributions  of  Christians,  to  support  its 
institutions.  But  the  members  of  a  Christian  com- 
munity may  consent  to  give  to  these  contributions 
the  form  of  an  equable  tax.  But  the  difficulty  is, 
how  to  apportion  this  tax  among  the  various  denomi- 
nations, without  unduly  exalting  and  privileging  one, 
at  the  expense,  and  to  the  oppression  of  all  the  other 
sects. 

Under  their  social  institutions,  of  which  the  pub- 
lic provision  for  the  support  of  religion  constituted 
a  prominent  article,  the  New-England  states  have 
acquired  a  deserved  reputation,  for  a  high  religious 
and   moral  character ;    with   which,    at   this  hour,    no 


344  NEW-ENGLAND    CHAllACTEll. 

otkc?'  Christian  country,  of  equal  population,  can  com- 
pete. 

Mr.  Eacon  says  :  that  in  New-England,  the  laws  of 
the  several  states  are  generally  better  executed,  than 
in  the  middle  and  southern  sections  of  the  Union. 
Keligion  is  much  more  generally  attended  to  ;  educa- 
tion is  fostered,  and  good  morals  are  protected.  But 
the  lower  classes  have  a  low  cunning  and  intrigue, 
which  is  dangerous  to  a  less  suspicious,  and  a  more  ig- 
norant people.  This  class,  finding  their  own  laws  too 
strict  for  them,  generally  remove  to  some  distant  part 
of  the  United  States,  where  their  arts  and  deceptions 
find  more  room  for  action.  Go  among  the  people  of 
New-England,  and  you  will  find  them  intelligent,  hos- 
pitable, moral,  religious.  Their  chief  characteristics 
are  enterprize,  perseverance,  shrewdness,  industry,  and 
economy. 

Eut  Mr.  Bacon  is  unusually  severe  upon  the  con- 
gregationalists ;  in  the  year  1817,  he  says:  as  to  the 
religion  of  New-England,  the  standiMg  order  not  un- 
frequently  exercise  persecution.  They  grasp  at  all 
offices,  and  having,  the  law  on  their  side,  make  all  con- 
tribute to  their  worship,  who  do  not  produce  written 
testimony,  that  they  contribute  to  eome  other  mode. 
Every  one  must  go  to  church  once  in  three  months, 
under  a  penalty ;  and  Sabbath  breaking  is  a  crime  of 
no  small  magnitude.  Yet  too  much  hypocrisy  may 
sometimes  be  seen  under  the  demure  garb  and  face  of 
a  congregationalist,  as  well  as  others.  It  is  predicted, 
that  the  unnatural  union  of  church  and  state  will  take 
place  in  New-England,  if  not  guarded  against.  The 
standing  order  will  probably  grow  more  and  more  arro- 
gant and  powerful,  if  the  laws  in  their  favour  be  not 
relaxed. 

This  censure,  however,  seems  hardly  justifiable; 
for  vchat  has  given  to  New-England  her  superior  cha- 
racter, but  the  superior  conduct  of  the  congregational- 
ists ;  all  other  denominations  being  weak  and  scanty 
in  the  eastern  states  ?  Besides,  as  Mr.  Bacon  was, 
for  some    years    previous    to   his  death,    himself   emi- 


CONDITION    OF    UNITED    LTATES.  345 

iicntly  pious,  he  could  not  possibly  disapprove  of 
the  care  taken  in  New- England  to  keep  the  Sabbath 
holy ;  which  is  a  positive  command  of  God,  and  one  of 
the  main  preservatives  of  Christianity  in  a  country. 
And,  doubtless,  were  he  living  now,  no  one  would 
more  sincerely  rejoice  to  acknowledge  the  actual  bene- 
ficial tendency  of  the  congregational  system  in  New- 
England;  which,  notwithstanding  its  legal  patronage, 
has  not  sunk  into  dead  formality,  and  general  con- 
formity to  the  world  ;  but  has  been  for  some  years 
past,  and  is  now,  exhibiting  numerous  instances  of 
extensive  revivals  of  religion,  and  of  genuine  growth 
in  grace. 

In  wliatever  way  the  question,  as  to  the  propriety  of 
the  mode,  in  which  the  New-England  states  interfere, 
to  provide  for  the  support  of  the  Gospel,  be  finally  de- 
termined ;  it  is  self-evident,  that  there  can  be  no  sta- 
bility for  tlie  American,  or  for  any  other  political  insti- 
tutions, if  once  a  majority,  or  even  a  considerable  pro- 
portion of  the  population  become  infidels,  whether  bap- 
tized or  unbaptized. 

And  in  the  existing  portentous  condition  of  the 
whole  world,  no  statesman,  who  has  the  welfare  of  the 
federal  union  bound  up  in  the  bundle  of  his  own  life 
and  feeling,  can  desire  to  see  the  evil  of  national  irre- 
ligion,  added  to  those  trying  circumstances  of  this  coun- 
try, the  prevention,  or  the  remedy  of  which  requires  the 
full  conjunction  of  political  wisdom,  and  political  for- 
titude ;  namely  the  commercial  embarrassments,  the 
agricultural  depression,  the  unsettled  finance,  both  of 
the  general  government  and  of  the  chartered  banks; 
the  constant  clashings  of  the  various  codes  of  municipal 
law  ;  tlie  frequent  and  growing  collisions  between  the 
several  state  sovereignties  and  the  federal  judiciary  ; 
and,  above  all,  the  Missouri  question,  which,  of 
itself,  is  pregnant  with  an  Iliad  of  woes,  in  the  mutual 
exasperation  of  the  slave  holding  and  the  other 
states. 

Perhaps  the  orihj,  certainly  the  most  efficacious,  re- 
medy foi:  tJjese,  and  for  all  other  national  evils,  whether 


346  AMERICAN-ANGLO-CHUHCH. 

present  or  prospective,  is  to  be  found  in  the  general 
conversion  of  the  people  to  real,  evangelical  Christian- 
ity ;  alike  alien  and  abhorrent  from  all  sectarian  bigotry, 
and  all  irreligious  indifference. 

One  plain,  practical  inference  from  the  preceding- 
facts  and  observations,  in  regard  to  the  American- An- 
glo-Church, is,  that  if  she  suffers  formalism  to  pervade 
her  communion  generally,  she  must  languish  and  die. 
But  if  her  clergy,  as  a  body,  faithfully  teach  and  prac- 
tise the  evangelical  truths  and  doctrines  of  their  own 
liturgy,  articles,  and  homilies,  she  will  live  and  prosper, 
and  not  long  continue  so  much  in  the  wake  of  other 
Christian  denominations,  in  numbers,  talent,  learning, 
influence,  and  utility. 

It  is  but  justice  to  state,  that  as  a  church,  she  still 
professes  to  cleave  to  her  aiticles,  transcribed  from  those 
of  her  established  mother  in  England.  In  the  "  Pas- 
toral Letter  to  the  clergy  and  laity  of  the  protestant 
episcopal  church,  from  the  bishops  of  the  same,"  issued 
at  the  General  Convention  in  May  1820,  the  evan- 
gelical doctrines  of  the  public  formularies  of  the 
American-Anglo-Church,  are  distinctly  recognized  and 
recommended.  Consequently,  if  she  do  not  suffer 
herself  to  be  consolidated  into  one  single,  universal 
bishopric,  by  the  paramount  ascendancy  of  any  particular 
diocese,  in  which  evangelism  is  proscribed,  she  may  yet 
lift  her  head  aloft,  among  the  other  Christian  churches 
throughout  the  Union. 

But  if  she  be  ever  melted  down  into  one  uniform 
mass  of  consolidation,  her  death  warrant  is  from  that 
moment  signed,  and  sealed,  and  on  the  verge  of  instant 
execution.  For,  in  comparison  with  the  truly  Scrip- 
tural doctrines  of  the  Anglican  and  American-Anglo- 
Churches,  the  creed  of  a  full  fledged  formalist  is 
cruder  than  the  undigested  crapula  of  an  habitual 
drunkard. 

If  there  be  only  one  dominant  diocese  in  the 
United  States,  and  that  diocese  proscribes  evangelism, 
and  promulgates  formal,  popish  tenets ;  then  the 
tvhole  American- Anglo-Church  becomes   virtually  an 


DIOCESAN    CONSOLIDATIOX.  347 

integral  part  of  the  papal  hierarchy,  and  totters  to 
its  fall.  But  if  such  diocese  be  not  suffered  to  swallow 
up  ail  the  rest  in  its  ravenous  maw,  then  it  only 
may  remain  in  the  Egyptian  darkness  of  formalism, 
and  surrounding  dioceses  may,  by  preaching  the  pure 
Gospel  faithfully  and  fervently,  erect  a  wall  of  fire 
round  about,  making  the  formal  darkness  more  visible 
by  the  contrast  of  evangelical  light;  some  of  which 
might  possibly  penetrate  into  the  frozen  mass,  and 
infuse  heat  and  life  into  the  coldness  of  death.  And 
if  not,  only  a  paii,  instead  of  the  whole  of  the 
American- Anglo-Church  is  doomed  to  destruction, 
by  the  substitution  of  formalism  in  the  place  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

It  is  tJiis  consideration  which  gives  so  much  im- 
])ortance  to  the  question,  whether  or  not  any  one  single 
diocese  shall  eventually  gain  such  an  ascendancy,  as  to 
command  the  whole  protestant  episcopal  body  through- 
out the  union  ;  and  thus,  in  effect,  rear  a  popedom  in 
the  western  world,  while  that  in  the  elder  hemisphere  is 
hastening  to  decay  ? 

These  anticipations  were  suggested  in  consequence 
of  the  efforts  repeatedly  made  in  the  general  conven- 
tion of  the  American- Anglo-Church,  by  the  diocesan 
delegation  from  New- York,  to  substitute  voting  by 
parishes,  in  the  room  of  voting  by  states,  in  the  general 
convocations  of  the  protestant  episcopal  communion.  A 
measure,  the  inevitable  effects  of  which,  let  us  pause  a 
moment  to  contemplate. 

In  the  first  place,  look  at  the  facility  with  which 
episcopal  parishes  may  be  multiplied  indefinitely,  in  the 
diocese  of  New- York,  under  the  provisions  of  the  sta- 
tute respecting  religious  incorporations.  A  very  few 
individuals  meet  together,  and  agree  to  become  an 
episcopal  parish;  and  forthwith,  a  lay  reader  is  appointed 
by  the  bishop,  and  a  lay  delegate  admitted  to  the  state 
convention. 

In  many  of  these  parishes,  no  clergyman  ever  has 
been,  or  is  ever  likely  to  be  settled  ;  whence  the  pre- 
ponderance of  lay  over  clerical  delegates  in  the  diocesan 


348  PARISH-MAKING    AND    VOTING. 

convention.  In  October  1820,  they  were  sixty-seven 
to  forty  seven  ;  nearly  half  as  many  more.  Thus,  if 
the  scheme  of  pa?^ish-votmg  be  ever  carried  into  effect, 
the  diocese  of  New- York  will,  at  all  times,  be  able  to 
spin,  out  oi her  own  bowels,  a  sufficient  majority  in  the 
general  convention  of  the  American-Anglo-Church. 
This  faculty  of  parish-making  enables  the  protestant 
episcopal  communion  in  the  diocese  of  New- York,  to 
loom  7)iuch  lai^ger  upon  paper,  in  conversation,  and  in 
speeches,  than  she  is,  in  reality,  to  the  eye  of  the  in- 
quirer, who  seeks  to  discover  the  aliquot  parts  of  her 
ostensible  aggregate. 

This  plan  of  voting  by  parishes,  instead  of  by  states, 
in  the  lower  house  of  the  general  convention,  is  in 
direct  contradiction  to  the  intention  of  the  original 
framers  of  that  venerable  body ;  and  if  once  permit- 
ted to  prevail,  would  infallibly  jeopardize  the  spiri- 
tual interests  of  the  whole  American- Anglo-Church. 
The  intention  of  the  conventional  body,  which  laid 
the  foundations  of  the  present  protestant  episcopal 
church  in  the  United  States,  was,  to  preserve  each 
diocese  separate,  and  independent  of  all  other  dioceses, 
and  subject  only  to  the  authority  of  the  church  uni- 
versal, in  general  convention  assembled. 

It  was  emphatically  designed  to  prevent,  if  possible, 
just  such  a  consolidation,  as  would  enable  one  large 
diocese  to  swallow  up  all  the  smaller  dioceses,  and 
erect  itself  into  a  rival  of  the  Roman  see,  in  this 
western  hemisphere.  In  like  manner,  as  in  the  se- 
nate of  the  United  States,  each  separate  state  is 
represented  by  two  senatorial  votes;  the  smallest, 
standing  on  an  equal  ground  of  political  sovereignty, 
with  the  largest ;  in  order  to  preserve  the  confede- 
racy, and  prevent  the  consolidation  of  the  several  United 
States  into  one  solitary  imperial  throne. 

The  confederacy  of  the  separate  dioceses  would 
soon  be  melted  down  into  one  aggregate  episcopal 
mass,  if  the  parish-voting  scheme  should  become  a 
canon,  or   law,   binding  the   whole  American-Anglo- 


TRTMITIVE    PErxSECUTIONS.  349 

Church  to  spiritual  obedience.  For  then,  a  majority 
being  constantly  secured  in  the  general  convention, 
decrees  may  be  fulminated  at  will,  from  the  New- 
York  diocesan  chair,  over  all  the  protestant  episco- 
pal church  in  the  United  States; — as  bulls  bellow 
from  tlie  Vatican,  over  the  entire  circle  of  the  pope- 
dom . 

For,  suppose  the  plan  of  voting  by  parishes,  in- 
stead of  by  states,  to  be  accomplished,  and  'the 
general  convention,  in  consequence,  subjected  to 
the  control  of  the  New- York  diocesan,  what  must 
be  the  condition  of  the  whole  American-Ang-lo- 
Church,  when  thus  consolidated  under  the  dominion 
of  one  universal  bishop  ?  Suppose,  at  any  time 
liereafter,  a  New-York  diocesan  to  arise,  who  shall 
labour  under  the  popish,  or  the  pelagian  infection ; 
— are  American  ])rotestant  episcopalians,  in  the  nine- 
teenth century  of  the  Christian  era,  prejiared  to  in- 
cur the  hazard  of  seeing  that  church,  to  redeem 
whicli  from  the  superstition,  the  idolatry,  the  blood- 
guiltiness  of  popery,  their  venerable  ancestors  in 
England,  gave  their  own  living  bodies  a  voluntary 
sacrifice  to  the  flames,  the  gibbet,  and  the  rack, — ■ 
again  transformed  into  an  integral  portion  of  the  pa- 
pal liierarchy  ? 

In  fine,  we  are  thoroughly  convinced,  that  the 
cause  of  pure,  evangelical,  vital  Christianity,  would 
not  be  promoted  in  these  United  States,  by  a  national 
church  establishment,  exalting  one  particular  sect  into 
exclusive  dominion,  and  wealth,  and  political  import- 
ance;  -to  the  proscription,  and  oppression  of  all  other 
denominations. 

Immediately  after  the  ascension  of  its  Almighty 
founder,  Christianity  experienced,  according  to  his 
own  predictions  and  warnings,  the  increasing  enmity 
of  a  corrupt  aiul  an  idolatrous  world.  During  the 
first  tlnee  centuries  of  its  progress,  it  was  called 
u]jon  to  struggle  with,  and  to  suffer  from  the  impla- 
cable malignity  of  the  Jews,  the  captious  ingenuity 
of  the  Greeks,    and  the  political   power  of    the    Ro- 


350  FIRST    STATE    CIIUKCH. 

mans.  Yet,  under  all  the  persecutions,  general  and 
local,  imperial  and  popular,  Christianity  increased 
daily,  and  spread  itself  over  every  corner  of  the  then 
discovered  world. 

Tertullian  says,  in  his  Apology,  that  in  the  third 
century.  Christians  v^^ere  to  be  found  in  the  camp, 
in  the  senate,  in  the  palace ; — every  where  but  in 
the  heathen  temples,  and  at  the  theatrical  exhibi- 
tions. They  filled  the  cities,  the  country,  and  the 
islands  of  the  sea.  So  many  of  all  ranks,  and  either 
sex,  and  every  age,  embraced  the  Christian  faith, 
that  the  pagans  deplored  the  desertion  of  their  tem- 
ples, and  the  ruin  of  their  ecclesiastical  revenues. 
By  the  time,  says  bishop  Porteus,  in  his  Evidences 
of  Christianity,  the  empire  became  Christian,  there 
is  every  reason  to  believe,  that  the  Christians  were 
mo7X  numerous,  and  more  powerful,  than  the  pagans. 

Which  consideration  induced  Constantine  to  make 
the  first  established  national  Christian  church; — a 
measure,  tliat  injured  Christianity  infinitely  more, 
than  all  the  ten  bloody  persecutions  of  his  pagan  pre- 
decessors. The  new  state  church  soon  produced 
an  abundant  harvest  of  schisms,  and  heresies,  and 
general  corruption  of  doctrine,  discipline,  and  mo- 
rals. The  Christian  religion  now,  in  consequence  of 
the  existence  of  a  church  establishment,  was  pro- 
fessed by  numbers,  not  from  any  conviction  of  its 
truth  and  obligation,  but  from  interested,  secular 
motives.  And  whatever  attention  was  paid  to  the 
form  of  exterior  churchmanship,  the  power  and  in- 
fluence of  real  religion  on  the  hearts  and  lives  of  its 
professors,  were  awfully  diminished,  and  darkened 
nearly  to  extinction. 

The  same  century,  which  saw  the  establishment 
of  the  first  national,  or  state  church  by  Constantine, 
also  witnessed  the  diffusion  of  Arianism  over  a  vast 
proportion  of  Christendom.  This  heresy  was  patron- 
ized by  several  of  Constantine's  imperial  succes- 
sors, the  legal  supreme  secular  heads  of  the  es- 
tablislied    church  ;     and,     of    course,    spread    widely 


CHRISTIANITY    IJEFOllE  fj51 

among  the  state  clergy,  and  the  state  nobility,  who 
were  botli  looking  up  to  tlieir  civil  rulers  for  eccle- 
siastical and  lay  promotion  and  emolument. 

Superstition,  likewise,  as  well  as  heresy,  was  an- 
other blessing,  derived  from  a  secular  church  es- 
tablislimcnt.  And  in  the  following  century,  the  bi- 
shop of  Rome  modestly  announced  himself  to  be  the 
head  and  sovereign  of  the  universal  church  ;  and  the 
mummeries  and  blasphemies  of  an  idolatrous,  san- 
guinary system,  were  substituted  for  the  religion  of 
Jesus  Christ.  Cardinal  Bellarmin  himself,  perhaps, 
the  ablest,  the  most  subtle,  and  the  most  determined  of 
all  the  enemies  of  protestantism,  has,  unwittingly, 
acknowledged  the  corrupt  state  of  the  Roman  church, 
in  the  very  act  of  inveighing  against  the  great  fathers 
and  founders  of  tlie  Reformation. 

"  For  some  years, — says  Bellarmin,  before  the  I^u- 
theran  and  Calvinistic  heresies  were  published,  there  was 
not,  as  contemporary  authors  testify,  any  severity  in 
ecclesiastical  judicatories,  any  discipline,  with  regard  to 
morals,  cmij  knowledge  of  sacred  literature,  any  rever- 
ence for  divine  things  ;  there  was  not  almost,  any  reli- 
ii'ion  remainino-." 

Then,  Bellarmin  himself  being  witness,  was  no  re- 
formation of  religion  wanted?  Humanly  speaking, 
it  would  Jiot  have  been  possible  to  fasten  popery  upon 
Christendom,  as  it  was  fastened  from  the  sixth  to  the 
sixteentli  century,  if  there  had  7iever  been  a  national 
church  establishment  fixed,  and  interwoven  with  the 
secular  government.  Now,  mark  tlie  contrast  between 
Christianity,  as  it  was  exhibited  before  and  after  its 
amalgamation  with  the  state. 

^^'herever  Christianity  has  prevailed  in  its  purity, 
and  precisely  in  proportion  to  the  evangelism  of  its 
doctrine ;  setting  forth  the  fall  of  man  from  his  pri- 
meval innocence ; — the  original  and  natural  depravity 
of  the  human  heart ; — the  necessity  of  conversion,  or 
spiritual  regeneration ;  — the  justification  of  sinners 
by  faith  in  Christ,  as  the  sole  author  and  finisher  of 
salvation  ;— the  sanctification  of  the  human   spirit  bv 


3.52  AND    AFTKPi    ESTABLISHMENTS. 

tlio  Holy  Ghost ; — the  Godhead  of  the  three  Divine 
persons  in  one  mysterious  Trinity  ; — have  individual 
purity  of  morals  and  national  prosperity  and  happiness 
uniformly  flourished. 

Wherever  Christianity  spread  its  mild  and  benignant 
light,  the  waste  aud  wilderness  of  life  began  to  bloom  as 
the  paradise  of  God ;  the  nations  of  the  earth  became 
purified  and  exalted  in  all  their  moral  and  intellectual 
faculties ;  they  were  freed  from  the  fetters  of  political, 
social,  and  domestic  slavery  ;  they  were  more  advanced 
in  skill  and  knowledge,  more  deeply  Aeised  in  science, 
more  accomplished  in  literature,  more  alive  to  industry 
and  enterprise,  more  refined  in  all  social  intercourse, 
more  adorned  with  every  nobler  virtue  and  every 
polished  grace,  more  benevolent  to  man,  more  devoted 
to  God. 

But  the  dawning  of  this  brightest  day  was  soon 
overcast  with  clouds  and  thick  darkness  \— supersti- 
tion soon  poisoned  the  waters  of  life  in  their  springs 
and  in  their  sources ; — a  superstitioji  which  lulled  to 
rest  all  fears  of  future  punishment,  while  it  sanc- 
tioned and  encouraged  the  commission  of  every 
crime  : — which  held  out  incitements  to  the  most  pro- 
fligate ambition,  and  provided  for  the  indulgence  of 
the  most  sensual  sloth  ;  a  superstition,  whose  impos- 
ing ceremonies  were  interwoven  with  all  the  institu- 
tions of  secular  society  ;  and  whose  spirit  of  delusion 
was  diffused  throughout  all  the  principles  of  civil 
government. 

The  co?Tuptions  of  Christianity  soon  began  to  dark- 
en, and  gradually  to  extinguish  the  lights  of  the 
understanding  and  the  sensibilities  of  the  heart;  so 
that  a  greater  and  a  more  stupendous  mass  of  igno- 
rance and  iniquity,  than  had  ever  yet  oppressed  the 
earth,  was  exhibited  in  the  moral  and  intellectual 
deatli  of  ten  successive  centuries.  The  whole  cir- 
cumference of  Christendom  was  veiled  in  the  dark- 
est pall  of  civil  and  religious  bondage;  the  human 
conscience  was  benighted  amidst  the  terrors  of  the 
dungeon,    the  rack,   the    gibbet,    and    the  flame ;  the 


CHURCH    GOVERNMENT    IN    UNITED    STATES.  353 

persons  of  men  were  tlelivcrcd  over  a  prey  to  the 
perpetuity  of  feudal  anarchy  and  boisterous  brigand- 
age ;  of  castelhited  feuds ;  of  partisan  warfare ;  of 
hereditary  hostility ;  of  arbitrary  incarceration  ;  of 
inquisitorial  torment ;  of  military  execution  ;  of  pri- 
vate assassination  ;  of  public  pillage  ;  of  universal  op- 
pression ;  of  rapes,  robberies,  murders,  massacres,  con- 
flagrations, and  all  the  unutterably  numerous  and  diver- 
sified calamities,  incident  to  suffering  and  afflicted  hu- 
manity, when  force  and  fraud  are  the  arbiters  of  right 
and  wrong. 

JNlr.  Addison,  writing  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Ann, 
under  the  full  beatitude  of  a  protcstant  national  church 
establishment,  bears,  undesignedly  indeed,  testimony 
to  the  important  position,  that  religion  flourishes  better, 
and  is  purer  without,  than  with  the  political  conjunction 
of  the  secular  government. 

In  his  Evidences  of  the  Christian  Religion,  he  says  : 
I  should  be  thought  to  advance  a  paradox,  should  I 
affirm,  that  there  were  more  Christians  in  the  world, 
during  those  times  of  persecution,  the  three  cen- 
turies before  Constantine  made  the  first  state  church, 
than  there  are  at  present  in  these,  which  we  call 
the  flourishing  times  of  Christianity.  But  this  will  be 
found  an  indisputable  truth,  if  we  form  our  calcu- 
lation upon  the  opinions,  which  prevailed  in  those  days, 
that  every  one,  who  lives  in  the  habitual  practice  of 
any  voluntary  sin,  actually  cuts  himself  off  from  the 
benefit  and  profession  of  Christianity,  and  whatever  he 
may  call  himself,  is  in  reality,  no  Christian,  nor  ought 
to  be  esteemed  as  such. 

If  this  rule  of  the  primitive,  /^/^established  religion 
were  applied  as  the  test  of  the  Christianity  of  all  the 
clerical  and  lay  members  of  the  Anglican  and  Hi- 
bernian state  churches  ;  it  is  to  be  feared,  that  the 
real  Christians  in  those  national  ecclesiastical  esta- 
blishments, would  turn  out  to  be,  comparatively,  a  very 
little  flock. 

In  these  United  States,  the  different  church  go- 
vernments are  similar   to  those  in  England.     Perhaps 

2  A 


354  AMEllICAN-ANGLO-OHURCH. 

the  greatest  variance  exists  between  the  outward 
organization  of  the  American- Anglo  and  the  Angli- 
can churches.  In  the  United  States,  the  annual  or 
biennial  convention  of  each  diocese,  and  the  trien- 
nial convention  of  all  the  several  dioceses,  consist 
of  lay,  as  well  as  of  clerical  delegates ;  and  there- 
fore exhibit  more  of  a  representative  form  of  govern- 
ment, than  the  established  church  displays  in  Eng- 
land, where,  since  the  extinction  or  disuse  of  the 
houses  of  convocation,  the  state  clergy  are  collected  in 
mass,  only  at  the  visitations,  whether  episcopal  or 
archidiaconal.  Nay,  in  convocation,  no  laics  sate  as 
members.  In  the  United  States,  at  the  diocesan  con- 
vention, the  bishop  presides  ex  officio ;  at  the  trien- 
nial, or  general  convention,  the  bishops  collectively 
form  an  upper  house  ;  while  the  clerical  and  lay  de- 
puties constitute  a  lower  house.  Each  separate  church 
is  governed  by  its  rector,  church  wardens,  and  vestry- 
men. 

In  the  American- Anglo-Church  there  is  no  ostensi- 
ble patronage ;  no  bishoprics,  nor  benefices,  in  the 
gift  of  the  government,  or  nobles,  or  gentry,  or  bi- 
shops, or  colleges,  or  chapters,  or  canons,  or  lay  in- 
corporations, as  in  England ;  where  there  is  neither 
voice  nor  election,  on  the  part  of  the  people  to  whose 
immortal  souls  spiritual  services  are  to  be  adminis- 
tered. But  even  in  these  United  States,  a  spurious 
species  of  patronage  exists  :  for  example,  if  a  bishop 
happens  to  be  an  active,  dexterous,  managing  man, 
he  contrives  to  fill  most  of  the  vacancies  in  his  diocese, 
with  clerks  after  his  own  heart. 

Now,  if  such  a  bustling,  busy  prelate  be  fully  in- 
doctrinated in  exclusive  churchmanship,  baptismal 
regeneration,  term  and  condition  salvation,  and  the 
other  dogmas  of  the  modern  fashionable  protestant 
papist  theology,  he  naturally  labours  to  fasten  similar 
theologues  upon  all  vacant  parishes,  as  the  only  cler- 
gy that  are  orthodox ;  while  he  denounces  as  "  un- 
sound, irregular,  weak,  fanatical,  methodistic,  and 
Calvinistic,"    those  ministers,  who  maintain  the  truly 


PRESBYTERIANS METHODISTS.  355 

evangelical  doctrines  of  the  Reformation,  embodied 
in  the  articles,  homilies,  and  liturgy  of  the  Anglican 
church.  The  bishop,  in  the  United  States,  as  in 
England,  is  the  executive  chief  of  the  clergy  in  his 
diocese ;  but  his  hand  is  nut  strengthened  to  do  mis- 
chief by  any  flagitious  act  of  parliament. 

The  presbyterian  form  of  church  government,  in 
the  United  States,  resembles  a  representative  repub- 
lic ;  consisting  of  a  parity  of  ministers,  lay  delegates  or 
elders,  the  clerical  moderator,  chosen  as  president, 
or  speaker  of  the  house,  met  together  for  the  despatch- 
of  ecclesiastical  business,  in  their  general  assemblies, 
which  superintend  and  guide  all  the  particular 
synods  and  presbyteries  througliout  the  union  ;  while 
each  separate  congregation  is  governed  by  a  church 
session,  comprised  of  lay  elders  and  deacons,  over  whom 
the  minister  presides,  ex  officio.  Each  session  is 
amenable  to  the  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  of  its  own 
presbytery,  as  each  presbytery  is  subject  to  the  supe- 
rior dominion  of  its  particular  synod  ;  and  all  the 
churches  are  under  the  authority  of  the  general  as- 
sembly. 

The  methodists,  in  the  United  States,  are  governed 
altogether  by  their  clergy  ;^  no  lay  delegates  being 
admitted  to  their  conference  or  general  convention. 
The  laity  are  held  under  a  very  strict  surveillance 
by  the  classes,  and  monthly  and  quarterly  meetings ; 
all  establishing  a  very  minute  and  vigilant  police  over 
the  conduct  of  every  member  of  the  society,  both  male 
and  female. 

The  congregationalists,  or  independents,  whether 
pedo  or  adult  baptists,  profess  to  make  each  sepa- 
rate congregation  a  separate  church,  sui  juris ;  ad- 
mitting no  appeal  to  any  ulterior  or  higher  eccle- 
siastical tribunal.  This  form  of  church  government 
is  an  unmixed  democracy,  each  member  of  the  congre- 
gation, male  and  female,  young  and  old,  high  and  low, 
rich  and  poor,  one  with  another  having  a  vote  in  all 
church  matters ;  and  every  controversy  being  settled 
by   the   whole  congregation    meeting     together,    and 

2  a2 


356  CONGREGATIONALISTS. 

talking  and  voting.     Whence  are  ajit,  sometimes,  to 
arise  distraction  and  tumult. 

No  means  are  provided  for  preserving  an  orthodox 
standard  of  faith  among  the  several  churches,  as  one 
body ;  in  consequence  of  which,  too  many  of  the  inde- 
pendents, both  in  England  and  in  America,  have  de- 
clined in  discipline,  and  deteriorated  in  doctrine ;  have 
glided  down  from  Calvinism  into  Arminianism  ;  thence 
to  Arianism,  thence  to  Socinianism,  thence  to  deism,  or 
atheism,  or  nothing,  till  the  day  of  reckoning  comes. 
A  superior  ecclesiastical  tribunal,  unconnected  with  any 
particular  congregation,  and  guided  by  an  evangelical 
creed,  as  a  standard  of  faith,  appears  to  be  the  best 
mode  that  can  be  devised,  of  watching  over,  and  pre- 
venting or  punishing  any  laxity  of  discipline,  or  devia- 
tion in  doctrine,  that  might  taint  with  its  leperous  in- 
stilment, any  portion  of  the  visible  church,  over  which 
it  presides. 


CHAPTER  HI. 


On  the  Anglican  Church  Establishment. 


A  SLIGHT  examination  of  Mr.  Wilks's  own  exhorta- 
tions to  the  laity,  state  bishops,  and  established  cler- 
gy of  England,  would  show,  that  the  Anglican  na- 
tional church  establishment  is  not  peculiarly  calcu- 
lated to]  promote  piety,  and  prevent  heathenism  in 
that  country.  But  such  an  examination  must  be  de- 
ferred to  a  future  opportunity.  At  present,  it  is  suffi- 
cient to  notice  two  particulars  ;  one^  the  constant  call 
for  a  bctte?',  that  is  to  say,  a  religious  and  Christian,  in- 
stead of  a  formal  and  worldly  direction  of  the  patron- 
age of  the  church  of  England  ;  the  other,  the  deplor- 
able condition  of  the  evangelical  clergy  in  the  Eng- 
lish ecclesiastical  establishment  ;  neglected  and 
discouraged  by  the  civil  government;  frowned  upon 
and  persecuted  by  the  hierarchy  ;  reviled  and  ca- 
lumniated by  the  whole  host  of  clerical  state  form- 
alists. 

The  incessant  cry  of  Mr.  Wilks,  Mr.  Wilberforce, 
Dr.  Chalmers,  the  Christian  Observer,  and  other 
most  respectable  religious  writers,  in  the  British  em- 
pire, that  it  is  the  bounden  and  imperative  duty  of 
the  English  government,  and  bishops,  and  nobility, 
and  gentry,  to  give  a  different  course  to  their  church 
patronage ;  to  turn  it  from  a  secular  and  political, 
into  a  pious  and  evangelical  channel ;  is  a  virtual  ac- 
knowledgment, that  the  national  establishment  is  not 
exactly  calculated,  much  less,  absolutely  necessary,  to 
promote  piety,  and  prevent  paganism. 


358  ENGLISH    CHURCH    PATRONAGE. 

He  who  excuses,  accuses  himself,  says  the  French 
proverb.  Dr.  Chahners,  in  the  very  act  of  maintain- 
ing the  usefuhiess,  nay,  the  necessity  of  a  national 
church  establishment,  emphatically  warns  the  rulers 
of  Britain,  that  if  they  xvill  persist  in  filling  their  state 
hierarchy  with  ungodly,  formal,  worldly  bishops,  and 
priests,  they  must  expect  the  speedy  overthrow  of 
their  national  church,  at  all  events  ;  and  perhaps  the 
subversion  of  their  civil  governments. 

But  how  is  the  Anglican  Church  patronage  to  be- 
come better  ?  By  its  patrons,  whether  in  or  out  of 
the  cabinet  ministry,  becoming  themselves  personally 
pious  ?  In  what  way  ?  These  men  now  promote  only 
formal  bishops  and  clerks  ;  and  what  vei^y  little  preach- 
ing they  ever  hear,  proceeds  from  the  lips  of  their 
own  ecclesiastical  eleves.  Where  then  are  they  to 
learn  any  evangelism,  or  to  discover  the  importance 
of  an  evangelical  clergy  in  promoting  the  best  in- 
terests of  the  nation,  by  establishirg  the  govern- 
ment in  the  heart  affections  of  a  religious  rnd  loyal 
people  ? 

The  British  government  is  called  upon  to  make 
evangelical  bishops ;  and  the  English  bishops  and 
other  patrons  are  exhorted  to  bestow  their  benefices 
upon  evangelical  clerks.  But  what  piety  is  to  be 
promoted,  or  expected,  in  consequence  of  the  pa- 
tronage and  exertions  of  formal  bishops,  and  formal 
priests ;  whose  possession  of  all  the  prominent  posts 
of  the  established  church,  is  implied  in  the  very  call 
for  another,  an  evangelical  system  of  clerical  promo- 
tion. 

Are  the  perpetually  shifting  and  fluctuating  bodies 
of  men,  which,  from  time  to  time,  compose  the  Bri- 
tish cabinet,  expected  to  be  evangelically  inclined? 
And  if  not,  how  is  the  Anglican  Church  to  obtain 
evangelical  bishops?  Is  there  a  single  instance  to 
be  found  in  all  human  history,  of  the  men,  who  con- 
stitute executive  administrations,  under  any  form  of 
government,  being  generally  evangelical  ?     Have  they 


BRITISH    CABINET.  359 

not,  always,  been  generally  either  open,  avowed  in- 
fidels, or,  at  best,  merely  decent,  exterior,  secular 
formalists?  And  do  such  men  promote  evangelical 
clerks,  whose  Gospel  preaching,  and  holy  lives,  would 
be  a  continual  condemnation  of  their  patron's  infidelity 
or  formalism  ? 

An  irreligious,  formal  man,  has  no  more  desire  to 
promote  piety,  or  advance  pious  persons,  than  an 
illiterate  man  feels  to  help  forward  learning  or  learn- 
ed persons.  In  either  case,  it  would  be  letting  in 
light,  to  discover  the  patron's  own  darkness  ;  an  ex- 
hibition, which  no  one  peculiarly  covets.  A  strong 
argument  this,  in  itself,  against  linking  a  Christian 
church  with  a  secular  government ;  and  subjecting  its 
clergy  to  the  patronage  and  control  of  mere  intriguing, 
ambitious  politicians. 

It  should  seem  vain  then,  even  for  such  distinguished 
men  as  Mr.  Wilberforce  and  Dr.  Chalmers,  to  call 
upon  the  British  government  to  give  an  evangelical 
direction  to  their  church  patronage  ;  seeing  that  irre- 
ligious men  never  promote  any  but  formal  clerks,  ex- 
cej)t  by  mistake,  or  accident,  or  compulsion.  And 
xvhcn  is  it  surmised,  that  the  constantly  changing 
squadrons,  which  fill  up  the  British,  or  any  other  exist- 
ing administration,  are  to  become  personally  pious,  he- 
forc  the  Millennium  sets  in  ?  And,  until  they  are,  it 
is  idle  to  hope,  that  worldly,  secular  men  will  volun- 
tarilij  bestow  their  ecclesiastical  patronage,  on  other 
than  their  own  resemblances.  Similis  sim'Ui  gamkt,  in 
church,  as  well  as  in  state. 

The  same  course  of  reasoning  applies  equally  to 
all  the  other  patrons  of  the  Anglican  Church,  whe- 
ther they  be  lay  or  clerical ;  whence  the  natural  in- 
ference is,  that  the  English  national  ecclesiastical 
establishment  will  remain  as  it  has  always  been,  for 
the  most  part,  throughout  her  palaces  and  parishes, 
formal,  worldly,  irreligious,  ungodly,  until  a  decided 
majority  of  the  British  people  shall  sweep  her  from 
off  the  face  of  the  earth,  as  a  cumberer  of  the  ground. 


360  ENGLISH    CHURCH    PERISHING. 

Mr.  AA^ilks,  JMr.  Wilberforce,  the  British  Review, 
nay,  even  good  old  John  Newton  himself,  all  assume 
it,  as  given,  that  if  the  Anglican  state  church  esta- 
blisliment  ceases,  the  church  of  England  perishes,  as 
a  matter  of  course ;  which,  by  the  way,  is  no  great 
compliment  to  her  apostolic  purity,  that  she  cannot 
stand  a  single  moment  upon  her  own  legs ;  but  must 
be  sujiported  by  parliamentary  crutches,  and  guided 
by  the  leading  strings  of  the  lord  high  chancellor, 
and  the  fiist  lord  of  the  treasury.  And  they  also  as- 
sume, that  as  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  eva- 
nishing of  the  English  church,  all  the  people  of 
England  are  to  become,  in  due  time,  as  dark  and  dis- 
mal heathens,  as  any  of  the  negroes  in  the  interior  of 
Africa,  or  as  Mr.  Jefferson's  red  brethren,  the  aboriginal 
Indians,  on  this  American  continent. 

Now,  not  to  insist,  these  gentlemen  themselves  be- 
ing judges,  that  the  continuance  of  b,  formal  patron- 
age, on  the  part  of  the  government,  the  nobility, 
gentry,  and  hierarchy  of  England,  is  tlie  surest  of  all 
possible  means  to  destroy  their  national  church  es- 
tablishment ;  neither  of  these  assumptions  appears  to 
be  founded  either  on  fact  or  argument.  For,  in  the 
first  place,  the  Anglican  Church,  as  a  body,  would 
be  much  more  purely  religious  without,  than  ivith, 
the  unnatural  union  and  alliance  between  her  and 
the  secular  government  ; — and,  secondly,  if  the  church 
of  England  perish,  it  is  very  possible  for  the  Christian 
religion  to  find  an  existence  in  other  Christian  denomi- 
nations. 

Do  men  read,  and  believe  the  Bible  as  the  infalli- 
ble word  of  God,  when  they  opine  tliat  Christianity 
will  perish  in  Britain,  in  the  event  of  the  English 
church  ceasing  to  be  a  national  state  establishment? 
Do  they  seriously  think,  that  the  church  of  Christ  de- 
pends for  its  preservation  and  existence  upon  the  enact- 
ments of  the  British  imperial  parliament,  the  conge 
(Teslire  of  George  the  fourth,  and  the  cabinet  patron- 
age of  lord  viscount  Eldon,  and  the  earl  of  Liverpool  ? 


CHURCHMEN NONCONTORMISTS.  361 

In  these  United  States,  there  is  no  national  church 
estabhshment ;  and  although  there  is  too  much  formal- 
ism in  our  protestant  episcopal  communion,  yet  she 
is  proportionally  purer,  and  more  evangelical  in  her 
doctrines,  and  in  the  conduct  of  her  clergy,  than  is 
her  established  mother  in  England ;  whence  the  fair 
inference  is,  that  the  Anglican  Church  would  be 
less  formal,  less  secular,  less  irreligious,  if  she  were 
not  encumbered  by  the  control  and  patronage  of  the 
civil  government,  but  left  to  her  own  evangelical  ef- 
forts, as  are  all  the  Christian  denominations  in  this 
country. 

And  surely,  the  Christian  religion  would  7iot  perish 
in  Britain,  if  the  Church  of  England  died  ;  seeing, 
that  there  is  more  evangelism  out  of,  than  m,  the  es- 
tablishment noii\  notwithstanding  the  existence  of 
a  state  church.  And  hoiv  would  there  be  less  religion 
among  other  denominations,  if  she  should  cease  to  of- 
fer a  continual  high  bounty  for  the  general  produc- 
tion and  diffusion  of  formalism  and  ungodliness,  through- 
out the  nation,  by  her  close  and  intimate  alliance 
with  the  state  ?  if  she  should  cease  to  proscribe  all 
evangelism  alike  in  her  own,  as  well  as  in  other  com- 
munions ? 

In  his  very  sensible  preface  to  the  Memoirs  of  Mrs. 
Savage,  the  daughter  of  Philip,  and  the  sister  of 
Matthew  Henry,  an  excellent  woman,  worthy  of  such 
a  father  and  such  a  brother,  Mr.  Jay  says, — an  in- 
spection of  these  papers  shows  us,  that  a  dissent  from 
the  national  church  may  be  founded  in  conviction, 
as  well  as  education  ;  and  does  not  necessarily  imply 
a  fastidious,  or  a  factious  disposition ;  that  it  does 
not  render  its  subject  blind  to  what  is  good  or  ex- 
cellent in  the  doctrine  and  liturgy  of  the  establishment, 
or  prevent  prayer  for  its  success,  or  rejoicing  in  its 
welfare.  It  shows  us  too,  how  little  it  encourages 
disaft'ection  to  civil  obedience,  or  forbids  rendering  to 
Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's. 

Could  the  diaries  of  Mrs.  Savage's  times  be  explored, 
what  a  contrast  would  be  found  between  the  sentiments 


362  HEAD    OF    THE    CHURCH. 

such  worthies  confessed  before  God  in  their  most  sacred 
moments,  and  those  charged  upon  them  by  their  ca- 
lumniating adversaries.  Take  the  following  extract 
from  the  journal  of  her  honoured  father,  when  deprived 
of  his  living  for  conscience  sake.  May  29,  1663,  a 
thanksgiving  day  for  the  kings  return  ;  a  mercy  in 
itself,  for  which  the  Lord  be  praised,  though  I,  and 
many  more,  suffer  by  it. 

That  any  clergyman,  cast  out  of  his  benefice  by  the 
execrable  Bartholomew  act,  should  praise  the  Lord 
for  the  return  of  Charles  the  second  to  England,  does 
seem  to  be  a  marvellous  effort  of  Christian  charity, 
and  the  utmost  stretch  of  human  loyalty.  It  should 
not  be  forgotten,  that  the  ejection  of  such  ministers 
as  Philip  Henry,  and  Richard  Baxter,  and  others,  of 
whom  the  world  was  not  worthy,  from  the  church  of 
England,  was  one  of  the  signal  blessings  conferred 
upon  religion,  by  the  national  establishment ;  doubt- 
less, to  promote  piety,  and  prevent  heathenism  in  the 
country. 

The  Great  Head  of  the  church  has  declared  that 
He  will  always  preserve  it ;  and  consequently,  there 
is  no  cause  of  alarm,  that  the  church  of  Christ  will 
perish,  even  if  the  church  of  England  should  follow 
the  fate  of  her  Asian  sisters.  But  why  should  the 
English  protestant  episcopal  communion  perish,  from 
the  mere  circumstance  of  her  ceasing  to  be  joined  in 
political  alliance  with  the  civil  government  of  Bri- 
tain ? 

The  secular  rulers  of  the  empire,  to  be  sure,  would 
cease  to  make  formal  bishops;  the  patrons  of  the 
establishment,  whether  lay  or  clerical,  noble  or  gen- 
tle, would  cease,  either  to  sell  or  give  ecclesiastical 
benefices  to  clerks,  in  whose  call  the  people  who 
support,  and  are  expected  to  hear  the  preacher,  have 
no  voice.  The  established  priests  would  cease  to 
receive  immense  revenues  for  not  doing  the  duty 
of  evangelists ;  and  the  nation  at  large,  would  be 
eased  from  the  galling  burden  of  an  oppressive  tithe 
tax. 


ENGLISH    CHURCH    NOTIONS.  363 

But  the  truly  Christian  part  of  that  church  would 
remain,  and  evangelical  clergy  and  laity  would  be 
found  to  support  it,  in  purity  and  in  strength ;  J'ai' 
bettei^  than  it  now  appears  in  all  its  secular  splendour 
and  corruption.  In  these  United  States,  the  Ameri- 
can-Anglo-Church does  not  perish,  because  it  has  no 
political  alliance  with  the  civil  government;  but  it 
flourishes  in  pr'oportion  to  its  evangelism  ;  as  do  all 
Christian  denominations,  when  left  fairly  to  them- 
selves, and  not  impeded  by  a  perpetual  bounty,  on  the 
part  of  the  state,  for  the  production  of  a  formal,  worldly, 
irreligious  clergy. 

Persons  who  have  never  lived  out  of  England,  have 
no  adequate  opportunity  of  knowing  how  religion  is  to 
subsist,  when  left  to  find  her  own  level,  without  the 
interference,  and  free  from  the  close  embrace  of  the 
civil  magistrate.  The  English  people  never  see  Chris- 
tianity, but  as  embodied  in  one  dominant  state  sect, 
clothed  with  power,  rioting  in  wealth,  and  proscrib- 
ing, and  discountenancing  all  other  denominations ; 
which,  nevertheless,  are  compelled  to  contribute  to  the 
support  of  the  national  priesthood,  as  well  as  to  main- 
tain their  own  clergy.  In  recompense  for  which, 
they  are  put  under  the  ban  of  the  empire ;  the  brand 
of  religious  disability  is  stamped  upon  them  ;  and 
they  are  excluded  from  all  equal  participation  in  the 
political  claims,  rights,  privileges,  and  offices  of  their 
country. 

Under  such  circumstances,  and  always  seeing  reli- 
gion inseparably  blended  with  state  policy,  what  can 
the  English  people  know  about  the  progress  of  Chris- 
tianity, when  left  entirely  to  the  guidance  of  its  al- 
mighty Author  and  Head;  and  to  the  evangelical 
efforts  of  his  own  ministers  of  reconciliation  ? 

It  is  quite  childish  to  suppose,  that  the  arm,  whe- 
ther civil  or  military,  of  the  British,  or  of  any  other 
government,  is  necessary  to  preserve  alive  the  church 
of  Christ.  Its  divine  Master  has  promised  to  be  always 
with  her  to  the  end  of  the  world.  And  he  has  always, 
hitherto    protected    her,    alike    against    the   nefarious 


364  UNESTABLISHED    CHURCH. 

efforts  of  all  opposwg^  and  against,  what  is  infinitely 
worse,  the  unhallowed  assistance  of  all  allied  govern* 
ments. 

If  the  Anglican  church  establishment  were  swept 
away,  there  would  not  he  one  ray  of  real  religion  less 
in  England  then,  than  there  is  now.  The  sincerely 
pious  members  of  that  church,  who  are  conscientious- 
ly attached  to  her  external  order,  form  of  worship, 
and  evangelical  doctrines,  would  still  be  protestant 
episcopalians.  And  only  the  formal,  secular  clergy 
and  laity,  who  are  now  devout  by  act  of  parliament, 
would  desert  her,  if  their  worldly  interests  prompted, 
and  either  embrace  some  other,  or  no  sect,  according 
to  circumstances.  Christianity  would  still  be  the  com- 
7non  law  of  the  land,  and  as  such,  be  protected  against 
all  gross,  overt  acts  and  misdemeanors,  without  the 
oppressive  and  wasteful  incumbrance  of  an  exclusive 
national  church ;  in  the  same  manner  as  it  is  so  pro- 
tected in  these  United  States. 

There  would  be  less  bounty  for  formalism,  and  a 
more  effectual  demand  for  real  religion ;  which  flourishes 
most,  with  the  least  possible  intermixture  of  political 
rank,  ambition,  affluence,  and  intrigue.  The  British 
government  would  be  incalculably  stronger ;  because 
then  the  British  people  would  be  more  religious,  more 
contented,  more  united,  more  loyal,  than  they  are 
now,  when  one-third  of  the  population  is  kept  in  con- 
tinual exasperation  by  the  galling  weight  of  an  ex- 
pensive state  church,  and  their  own  political  proscrip- 
tion ;  and  the  other  two-thirds  are,  daily  and  hourly, 
becoming  more  and  more  alienated  by  the  perverse 
perseverance  of  their  rulers,  in  filling  the  national 
establishment  with  a  formal  hierarchy  and  a  formal 
clergy. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  generally  are 
much  more  unanimously  and  cordially  attached  to 
their  political  governments,  and  social  institutions, 
than  are  the  inhabitants  of  the  British  Isles  to  theirs. 
One  main  reason  of  which  is,  that  they  are  not  cursed 


SCOTTISH    KUIK.  365 

with   that    everlasting  source   of  individual,  domestic, 
and  national  discord,  a  state  church. 

Dr.  Chalmers  seems  inclined  to  take  it  for  granted, 
that  if  it  were  not  for  the  Scottish  church  establish- 
ment, Scotland  would  be  a  heathen  wilderness.  But 
if  so,  how  is  it,  that  the  reverend  doctor  himself,  and 
his  evangelical  brethren,  both  clergy  and  laity,  bear 
so  small  a  proportion,  not  one-fifth,  to  the  whole  formal 
body  of  kirk  members  ?  If  so,  why  is  there  more  evan- 
gelism out  of,  than  in  the  estabhshed  kirk  ?  Does  Dr. 
Chalmers  deliberately  think,  that  there  would  be  one 
single  beam  of  piety  less  in  Scotland  to-morrow,  if  the 
kirk  estabhshments  were  to  abscond  this  night;  and 
the  lord  commissioner,  as  representing  the  British 
monarch  in  the  peneral  assemblv,  transferred  to  some 
other  secular  employment ;  and  the  lay  patronage 
abolished,  and  the  Scottish  people  permitted  to  choose 
their  oxvn  pastors  ? 

Listen,  for  a  few  moments,  to  the  opinion  of  some 
eminent  divines,  as  to  the  existence  of  the  church  of 
Christ  depending  upon  the  continuance  of  any  one  par- 
ticular sect,  or  portion  of  the  visible  church. 

How  does  the  Greek  church  subsist?  asks  the 
apostolic  bishop  Home.  Like  the  tree  that  had 
suffered  excision,  in  the  dream  of  the  Chaldean  mo- 
narch ;  its  root  indeed  remains  in  the  earth,  with  a 
band  of  iron  and  brass,  and  it  is  wet  with  the  dew  of 
heaven,  until  certain  times  shall  have  passed  over  it ;  at 
the  expiration  of  which,  it  may  come  into  remembrance 
before  God,  and  again  bud,  and  put  forth  its  branches, 
and  bear  fruit,  for  the  shadow  and  support  of  nations  yet 
unknown.  But  its  present  condition  is  not  to  be 
envied  or  coveted.  The  Mahommedan  power  has  been 
raised  up  to  be  the  Pharaoh,  the  Nebuchadnezzar,  the 
Antiochus  Epiphanes  of  these  last  days,  to  the  eastern 
churches. 

Let  those,  therefore,  that  noiv  stand,  be  watchful, 
and  strengthen  the  things  that  remain,  that  are  ready 
to  die,  lest  they  also  fall.  The  promise  of  divine 
protection,    and    of    indefectible    subsistence,    is    not 


366  BISHOPS    IIOIINE  —  HOKSLEY. 

made  to  any  particular  church,  or  churches,  but  to 
the  church  of  Christ,  in  general ;  and  as  the  seven 
churches  of  Asia  have  long  almost  wholly  disap- 
peared ;  and  the  glory  of  the  Greek  church  has  for 
ages  been  wretchedly  obscured  ;  so  may  any  church 
or  churches,  however  flourishing  now,  be,  one  day, 
equally  obscured,  and  even  wholly  extinguished  and 
forgotten. 

The  promise  of  perpetual  stability,  says  the 
mighty  Horsley,  is  to  the  church  catholic ;  it  affords 
no  security  to  any  particular  church,  if  her  faith  or 
her  works  be  not  Jound  perfect  before  God.  The 
time  shall  never  be,  when  a  true  church  of  God  shall 
not  be  somewhere  subsisting  on  the  earth ;  but  any  in- 
dividual church,  if  she  fall  from  her  first  love,  may 
sink  in  ruins.  Of  this,  history  furnishes  but  too 
abundant  proof,  in  the  examples  of  churches,  once 
illustrious,  planted  by  the  Apostles,  watered  with  the 
blood  of  the  first  saints  and  martyrs,  which  are  now  no 
more. 

Where  are  now   the  seven  churches  of  Asia,  whose 
praise    is    in    the    Apocalypse?     Where     are    those 
boasted    seals   of  Paul's    apostleship,    the    churches  of 
Corinth  and  Philippi  ?     Where  are  the  churches  of 
Jerusalem    and   Alexandria?      Let     us   not   defraud 
ourselves  of  the  benefit   of  the   dreadful  example,  by 
the   miserable    subterfuge  of  a  rash  judgment   upon 
others,   and  an  invidious  comparison   of  their  deserv- 
ings  with  our  own.     Let   us   not   place  a  vain  confi- 
dence   in  the    purer    worship,    the    better    discipline, 
the    sounder    faith,    which,    for    two    centuries    and 
a  half,  we  have  enjoyed.      These  things  are  not  our 
merits ;  they   are    God's  gifts ;    and   the  security  we 
may  derive  from    them,   will   depend  on  the   use   we 
make  of  them. 

Let  us  not  abate,  let  us  rather  add  to,  our  zeal  for 
the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  distant  parts ;  but 
let  us  not  forget  that  we  have  duties  nearer  home. 
Let  us  of  the  ministry  give  heed  to  ourselves  and  to 
our  flocks ;  let  us  give  an  anxious  and  diligent  heed  to 


AMERICAN    DIVINE.  367 

their  spiritual  coucenis.  Let  us  all,  but  let  the  young- 
er clergy  more  esjiecially,  beware  how  they  become 
secularized  in  the  general  cast  and  fashion  of  their 
lives.  Let  them  not  think  it  enough  to  maintain  a 
certain  //ig'i^  decency  of  character,  abstaining  from  the 
gross  scandal  of  open  riot,  and  criminal  dissipation  ; 
but  giving  no  farifier  2X\.%\\\ao\\  to  their  spiritual  duties, 
than  may  be  consistent  with  the  pursuits  and  pleasures 
of  the  world. 

Tiie  time  viaij  come,  sooner  than  we  think,  when  it 
shall  be  said,  where  is  now  the  church  of  England  ? 
Let  us  betimes  take  warning;  as  many  as  I  love  I 
rebuke,  and  chasten,  said  our  Lord  to  the  church  of 
Laodicea,  whose  worst  crime  it  was  that  she  was  neither 
hot  nor  cold.     Be  zealous,  therefore,  and  repent. 

Hear  also,  upon  this  subject,  an  American  divine, 
who  equals  Home  in  evangelical  piety,  and  rivals  Hors- 
ley  in  gigantic  talent. 

The  long  existence  of  the  Christian  church  would 
be  pronounced,  upon  common  principles  of  reasoning, 
impossible.  She  finds  in  every  man  a  natural  and 
inveterate  enemy.  To  encounter  and  overcome  the 
unanimous  hostility  of  the  world,  she  boasts  no  po- 
litical stratagem,  no  disciplined  legions,  no  outward 
coercion.  Yet  her  expectation  is,  that  she  shall  live 
for  ever.  To  mock  this  hope,  and  blot  out  her  me- 
morial from  under  heaven,  the  most  furious  efforts  of 
fanaticism,  the  most  ingenious  arts  of  statesmen,  the 
concentrated  strength  of  empires,  have  been  frequently 
and  perseveringly  applied.  The  blood  of  her  sous  and 
of  her  daughters  has  streamed  like  water ;  the  smoke 
of  the  scaffold  and  of  the  stake,  where  they  won  the 
crown  of  martyrdom  in  the  cause  of  Jesus,  has  ascended 
in  thick  volumes  to  the  skies.  The  tribes  of  per- 
secution have  sported  over  her  woes,  and  erected 
monuments,  as  they  imagined,  of  her  perpetual  ruin. 

But  "where  are  her  tyrants,  and  where  their  empires? 
The  tyrants  have  long  since  gone  to  their  own  place ; 
their  names  have  descended  upon  the  roll  of  infamy  ; 
their  empires  have  passed,  like  shadows  over  the  rock  ; 


368  CHURCH    OF    CHllIST. 

tliey  have  successively  tlisappeared,  and  left  not  a  trace 
behind. 

But  what  became  of  the  church  ?  She  rose  from  her 
ashes,  fresh  in  beauty  and  in  might.  Celestial  glory 
beamed  around  her;  she  dashed  down  the  monumental 
marble  of  her  foes,  and  they  who  hated  her,  fled  before 
her.  She  has  celebrated  the  funeral  of  kings  and  king- 
doms that  plotted  her  destruction ;  and  with  the  in- 
scriptions of  their  pride,  has  transmitted  to  posterity 
the  record  of  their  shame. 

How  shall  this  phenomenon  be  explained  ?  We 
are,  at  the  present  moment,  witnesses  of  the  fact. 
This  blessed  book,  the  book  of  truth  and  life,  has 
made  our  wonder  cease.  The  Lord  her  God,  in  the 
midst  of  her,  is  mighty.  His  presence  is  a  fountain 
of  health ;  and  his  protection,  a  wall  of  fire.  He 
has  betrothed  her,  in  eternal  covenant,  to  himself 
Her  living  head,  in  whom  she  lives,  is  above ;  and 
his  quickening  spirit  shall  never  depart  from  her. 
Armed  with  divine  virtue,  his  Gospel,  secret,  silent, 
unobserved,  enters  the  hearts  of  men,  and  sets  up  an 
everlasting  kingdom.  It  eludes  all  the  vigilance,  and 
baffles  all  the  power  of  the  adversary.  Bars,  and 
bolts,  and  dungeons,  are  no  obstacle  to  its  approach  ; 
bonds,  and  tortures,  and  death,  cannot  extinguish  its 
influence. 

Let  no  man's  heart  tremble  then,  because  of  fear. 
Let  no  man  despair  in  these  days  of  rebuke  and  blas- 
phemy of  the  Christian  cause.  The  ark  is  launclicd 
indeed,  upon  the  floods;  the  tempest  sweeps  along 
the  deep ;  the  billows  break  over  her  on  every  side. 
But  Jehovah  Jesus  has  promised  to  conduct  her  in 
safety  to  the  haven  of  peace.  She  cannot  be  lost,  un- 
less the  pilot  perish.  Why  then,  do  the  heathen 
rage,  and  the  people  imagine  vain  things  ?  Hear,  O 
Zion,  the  word  of  thy  God,  and  rejoice  for  the  con- 
solation. No  weapon  that  is  formed  against  thee  shall 
prosper ;  and  every  tongue  that  shall  rise  against 
thee    in  judgment,  thou   shalt  condemn.     This  is  the 


EVANGELICAL    CURATES.  369 

heritage  of  the  servants  of  the  Lord  ;  and   tlicir  rigli- 
teoiisiiess  is  of  me,  saith  the  Lord. 

The  deplorable  condition  of  the  evangelical  clergy 
in  the  Anglican  church  establishment,  is  borne  tes- 
timony to  by  the  Christian  Observer ;  the  able  and 
uniform  advocate  for  the  necessity,  the  usefulness,  tlic 
importance  of  that  establishment. 

In  reviewing  the  Peterborough  questions,  and  ani- 
madverting upon  the  arbitrary,  unresponsible  po\\er 
given  to,  and  exercised  by  the  Enghsh  bishops,  in 
ejecting  licensed  curates,  according  to  their  own  sove- 
reign will  and  pleasure,  without  deigning  to  assign 
any  reason  for  thus  depriving  a  man  of  his  bread, 
the  Christian  Observer  says :  that  the  case  of  the  es- 
tablished clergy  in  England,  particularly  of  those  who 
are  unbeneficed,  is  quite  an  anomaly  in  a  free  coun- 
try. A  man  of  adequate  learning,  of  respectable 
talents,  of  irreproachable  character,  and  of  ortho- 
dox sentiments,  after  proceeding  through  the  usual 
academical  gradations,  may,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
three,  when  it  is  too  late  to  choose  another  profes- 
sion, or  to  recall  the  expense  and  time  consumed 
on  his  education,  be  rejected  as  a  candidate  for  holy 
orders,  merely  because  he  cannot,  in  conscience,  give 
the  required  reply  to  eighty-seven  questions,  the  whole 
scope  of  which  he  may  see  to  be  at  variance  with  the 
plain  meaning  of  the  legally  authorized  formularies, 
which  he  must  also  sign,  and  is  wilhng,  ex  anivw,  to 
sign,  and  to  abide  by. 

Now,  this  difficulty  can  touch  only  an  evangelical 
candidate ;  for  a  formalist  could  swallow,  without 
once  straining,  not  only  bishop  INIarsh's  eighty-seven 
questions,  but  as  many  more,  in  every  diocese,  in 
England,  Wales,  and  Ireland;  his  sole  object  being 
to  obtain  as  much  clerical  emolument,  with  as  little 
clerical  labour  as  possible. 

But  if  the  candidate  he  admitted  to  deacon's  or- 
ders by  one  bishop,  he  may  still  have  to  encounter 
another  bishop's  fourscore  and  seven  questions,  be- 
fore he  can  become  a  priest.     And,  when   thus  fully 

2  B 


370  EVANCiEI-ICAL    PRESENTEES. 

ordained,  and  rendered  for  ever  legally  incapable  of 
attending  to  any  secular  employment,  he  may  be 
threatened  with  another  eighty -seven  questions,  by 
a  third  prelate,  before  he  can  obtain  a  license  as  a 
stipendiary  curate  in  his  diocese.  Or  if  he  procure 
a  license,  and  minister  faithfully  in  a  parish  during 
the  greater  part  of  his  life,  vl  fourth  bishop  may  come, 
with  his  new  code  of  captious,  sopliistical,  unscriptural 
questions,  and  eject  him  peremptorily,  on  the  mere 
surmise,  that  the  curate's  gorge  is  not  wide  enough  to 
swallow  them  all. 

And  this  may  be  done  witliout  the  bishop  assigning 
any  reason,  or  alleging  any  fault  against  the  indi- 
vidual clerk,  whom  he  casts  out  to  penury  and  re- 
proach. This  is  a  system  of  ecclesiastical  tyranny, 
upheld  and  practised  in  the  protestant  established 
church  of  England ;  such  as  does  not  exist  in  any 
other  clerical  body  on  earth  ;  not  even  in  that  of  pa- 
pal Home.  Nor  does  sucJi.  a  system,  we  are  fain 
to  confess,  appear  peculiarly  calculated  to  promote 
piety,  and  prevent  heathenism  among  the  people  of 
Britain. 

Until  lately,  a  presentation  to  a  benefice  was 
thought  to  stand  upon  firmer  ground,  and  that  an 
appeal  lay  to  the  courts  of  law  or  equity,  from  a  bi- 
shop, who  refused  institution ;  so  that  he  must  either 
institute  the  presentee  without  delay,  or  show  legal 
cause  for  his  refusal.  But,  from  what  passed  in  the 
house  of  lords,  in  the  session  of  1820,  in  the  case  of 
the  Exeter  diocesan,  Dr.  Pelham,  and  Mr.  Jones,  it 
appears,  that  this  right  of  appeal  is  undermined ; 
for  wherever  the  testimonials  of  the  presentee  are  not 
signed  by  clergymen  of  the  diocese,  in  which  his  in- 
tended benefice  lies,  a  bishop's  counter-signature  is 
reqiusite ;  which  counter-signature  he  may  refuse, 
without  assigning  any  reason. 

The  "  Curate's  Act,"  now  embodied  in  the  "  Con- 
solidation Act,"  empowers  a  bishop  to  proceed 
"  summarily,  and  without  process,"  subject  only  to 
an  appeal  to  the   archbishop,   who    acts    in    the    same 


ENGLISH    CHITRCH    PATRONAGE.  371 

summary  manner.  This  compendious  method  supersedes 
all  canons,  and  rubrics,  and  statutes ;  and  the  aggrieved 
individual  is  not  permitted  to  be  heard,  or  to  plead 
these  statutes,  rubrics,  and  canons ;  or,  even  to  demand 
ivhat  is  his  offence,  by  what  law  he  is  condemned,  or 
what  evidence  is  brought  against  him.  The  bishop 
may  privately  state  his  oivn  case  to  the  archbishop,  and 
the  whole  be  settled  summarily,  witliout  the  complain- 
ant knowing  any  thing  of  the  matter,  until  he  learns 
the  result  in  his  own  ruin. 

Is  such  an  inquisitorial  system  ? — but  I  forbear  ;  the 
plain  matter  of  fact  statement,  that  such  is  the  system 
of  ecclesiastical  government  iu  tlie  established  church  of 
England,  can  gain  no  additional  force  from  any  human 
comment. 

In  the  review  of  Mr.  Wilson's  two  sermons  on  the 
late  venerable  Thomas  Scott,  the  Christian  Observer 
is  equally  ex])licit  as  to  the  systematic  care  which  is 
taken  to  prevent  the  church  iKitronagc  of  England 
from  straying  into  an  evangelical  channel. 

The  word  poverty,  says  the  reviewer,  suggests  to 
us  a  topic,  without  the  notice  of  which  our  observa- 
tions on  tlie  history  of  JMr.  Scott  would  be  very  in- 
complete. Suppose  the  half  cultivated  inhabitant  of 
some  barbarous  region  to  visit  the  obscure  village, 
in  which  Mr.  Scott  consumed  a  considerable  portion  of 
his  life,  what  would  be  his  unbiassed,  uninstructed 
judgment,  as  to  the  individual  thus  consigned  to  a 
narrow  parsonage  and  a  petty  church,  and  the  rustic, 
scanty  congregation,  who,  from  Sabbath  to  Sabbath, 
could  be  collected  from  the  few  scattered  cottages  around 
him  ? 

Would  he  not  pronounce  him  to  be  some  obscure, 
half  taught  individual,  who,  by  idleness,  or  igno- 
rance, had  shut  himself  out,  at  once,  from  the  attain- 
ments and  the  rewards  of  his  profession  ?  Or,  that 
if  distinguished  for  the  extent  and  accuracy  of  pro- 
fessional attainments,  he,  by  misconduct,  or  want  of 
personal  virtue,  had  doomed  himself  to  this  domes- 
tic exile,   the  perpetual  occupation  of  a   spot,  almost 

2b2 


372  llEV.    THOMAS    SCOTT. 

inaccessible  to  the  approach  of  friendship  ?  Or,  that 
the  various  governments,  under  whose  eye  this  tlieolo- 
gical  exile  had  long  and  faithfully  laboured,  had 
fciver  rewards  to  bestow,  than  worthy  claimants  of 
those  rewards  ?  that  theological  learning,  and  per- 
sonal piety,  and  pastoral  diligence,  were  such  mere 
drugs  in  the  modern  market,  as  to  invest  their  pos- 
sessor with  no  peculiar  claim  to  patronage  ?  that 
thousands  of  suitors  were  pressing  around  them, 
each  of  whom  had  fairly  earned  pre-eminence ;  each 
of  whom  carried  along  with  him,  as  his  title  to  pre- 
ferment, not  liis  skill  in  political  economy,  -7?o/  his 
dexterity  in  the  sports  of  the  field,  or  his  address  in 
all  the  mazes  of  the  dance,  or  the  chit-chat  of  the 
drawing-room  ;  but  a  still  more  valuable  commentary 
on  Scripture  than  Mr.  Scott's,  constructed  by  the 
labours  and  patience  of  thirty  years,  and  still  more 
powerful  elForts  to  defend  the  outworks,  and  augment 
the  influence  of  our  common  faith  ? 

How  would  such  a  wanderer,  from  distant  and 
barbarous  shores,  to  the  country  of  justice,  and  be- 
nevolence, and  political  purity,  and  moral  wisdom, 
and  orthodox  religion,  be  astonished  to  hear,  that 
this  banished,  half  fed  man,  neglected,  nay,  frowned 
upon  by  his  superiors  in  church  and  state,  and  destined 
to  feed  upon  the  husks,  while  others  were  devouring 
the  grain  of  ecclesiastical  produce,  was  the  best  textua- 
rist  in  Christendom,  and  the  07dy  living  original  com- 
mentator, at  any  length,  on  the  whole  volume  of 
Scripture  ? 

But  suppose  the  barbarian  to  seek  the  solution  of 
this  phenomenon,  and  to  ask  the  cause  of  the  exclu- 
sion of  this  clergyman  from  all  the  rewards  and  dis- 
tinctions of  his  profession  ;  and  to  learn  that  his  qf- 
fence  was,  the  adhering  closely  and  unequivocally  to 
tlie  formularies  of  that  church,  of  which  he  was  the 
consecrated  champion  and  advocate ;  that  there  be- 
ing tiLO  inter])retations,  of  whieh  some  of  the  more 
mysterious  and  difficult  parts  of  these  formularies 
admit,"  he   adopted    that,  almost   universally  ado])ted 


PETEllBOUOUGH    QUESTIONS.  373 

two  hundred  years  since,  but  now  out  of  favour  in 
certain  elevated  quarters  ;  that  his  only  crime  was  a 
guarded,  practical,  self-denying  Calvinism;  though, 
in  fact,  it  was  not  his  Calvinism,  but  his  acceptance 
of  the  cvangdical  doctrines,  not  exclusively  Calvin- 
istic,  but  common  to  aU  pious  men  of  every  various 
Christian    denomination,     that    constituted   his   chief 

offence. 

Would  not  our  savage  justly  raise  his  war-whoop 
against  the  conduct  of  those  who  acted  thiiii  towards 
a  man,  who  had  so  eminently  served  the  cause  of  re- 
ligion and  of  the  church  ;  because  he  chose  to  incul- 
cate the  doctrines  of  that  church  on  others,  in  the 
same  sense  in  which  he,  m  common  with  many  of  their 
framers,  believed  and  subscribed  them  himself? 

Yet  mch  is  precisely  the  history  of  INlr.  Scott.  //' 
lie  would  have  abjured  the  principles  in  which  Usher, 
and  Hall,  Hopkins,  and  Hooper,  lived  and  died, 
he  might  have  risen  to  distinction  and  emolument  in 
the  English  church.  But  because  he  saw  with  the 
eyes  of  those  illustrious  men,  heard  with  their  ears, 
and  lived  in  their  spirit  and  temper,  he  was  left  to  find 
his  obscure,  and  as  far  as  \\\^  governor s  YiGva  concerned, 
his  cheerless  way  to  the  grave,  without  a  single  taste 
of  those  ecclesiastical  bounties,  scattered  so  prodigally, 
from  day  to  day,  on  many  a  raw  and  unfledged 'dsinnint 
to  dignity  and  fortune.' 

However  disagreed  on  other  points,  the  persons 
among  U6;  says  the  Christian  Observer,  who  chiefly 
possess  ecclesiastical  patronage,  appear  to  concur  in  the 
plan  of  endeavouring,  by  degradation  and  spare  diet, 
to  stint  and  starve  men  out  of  the  genuine  principles 
of  the  Reformation  ;  an  object,  in  promoting  which, 
the  eighty-seven  questions  of  the  bishop  of  Peterborough 
will  be  found  particularly  useful. 

The  review  closes  with  a  remark  on  the  awful  trust 
imposed  by  the  possession  of  church  patronage  ;  and  a 
prayer,  that  God  would  direct  the  English  governors 
in  church  and  state,  to  a  right  use  of  their  power  of  pro- 


374  ENGLISH    CLERGY    TRAINING. 

moting  men  to  ecclesiastical  dignity  and  emolument. 
But  does  the  Christian  Observer  seriously  expect  any 
other  than  the  present  direction  of  the  patronage  of  the 
Anglican  Church,  under  the  existing  system  ;  in  which 
working  politicians  are  constantly  making  secular  bi- 
shops, who,  very  naturally,  promote  formal,  and  proscribe 
evangelical  clerks?  Or  does  he  seriously  think,  that 
sudi  a  system  is  well  calculated,  nay,  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  promote  piety,  and  prevent  paganism  in  the 
British  empire? 

I  desire  to  thank  God,  that  in  these  United  States, 
there  is  no  power,  civil  or  ecclesiastical,  that  could,  by 
any  possibility,  keep  down  in  poverty  and  obscurity, 
such  a  man  as  Thomas  Scott.  Nothing  short  of  the 
iniquity  of  a  national  church  establishment  is  competent 
to  the  commission  of  such  a  crime.  If  Mr.  Scott  had 
attached  himself  to  any  one  of  the  evangelical  com- 
munions in  this  country,  he  would  have  obtained  its 
highest  emoluments  and  honours ;  because,  where  the 
people  choose,  as  well  as  pay,  their  own  clergy,  under 
Providence,  a  man's  piety,  talent,  learning,  and  cha- 
racter, conduct  him,  in  the  ordinary  course  of  human 
affairs,  to  eminence  and  influence.  But  in  a  state 
church,  where  the  secular  government  and  secular  pa- 
tronage are  all,  and  the  people  nothing,  ecclesiastical 
preferment  never  can  be  directed  generally  into  an 
evangelical  current. 

Accordingly,  in  Kngland,  as  a  necessary  conse- 
quence of  the  intimate  alliance  between  church  and 
state,  the  established  clergy  are,  for  the  most  part, 
trained  up  to  tJieir  holy  vocation,  in  the  same  manner 
as  to  any  secular  calling  ;  and  generally  live,  as  lay- 
men do,  hunting,  shooting,  card  playing,  frequenting 
theatres,  dancing  at,  and  conducting,  as  masters  of 
the  ceremonies,  balls  and  assemblies,  eating,  drink- 
ing, cursing,  swearing,  electioneering,  and  so  forth, 
according  to  their  means,  ability,  and  inclination; 
being  distinguished  from  otlier  mere  worldlings,  only 
by  their  exterior  apparel,  and  not   always  even  by  that. 


FOXHUNTING    PA  U  SON.  375 

One  of  these  jolly,  buckskin,  rosy  parsons,  duly 
accoutered  in  jockey  cap  and  hunting  jacket,  eagerly 
asked  an  elderly  Obadiah,  wliom  he  met,  if  he  had 
seen  the  fox,  or  knew  which  way  he  went  ?  "  The 
fox,"  replied  honest  broadbrim,  "  is  in  a  place  where 
thou  never  goest :"  where — where  is  that  ?  rejoined 
the  clerical  Nimrod,  tell  me  instantly,  that  I  may  find 
liira.  To  the  which  old  drab-colour  answered,  "  in  thy 
study,  friend." 

Doubtless,  there  are  honourable  exceptions  to  the 
general  rule  ;  doubtless,  besides 

"  These  whipping  clerks,  that  drive  amain. 
Through  sermons,  services,  and  dirty  roads," 

there  are  in  that  vast  body  of  established  ecclesias- 
tics, many  men  of  great  capacity,  intense  industry, 
and  extensive  learning ;  and  above  all,  some  evange- 
lical ministers,  wlio  faithfully  discharge  the  high  duties 
of  their  sacred  office ;  and  may  the  Great  Head 
of  the  church,  not  the  king  of  England,  nor  the  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  nor  the  whole  hierarchy  in  the 
house  of  Lords  assembled,  nor  the  cabinet  ministry, 
seeing  that  they  all  seem  bent  upon  any  thing,  rather 
than  the  promotion  of  evangelism,  but  the  I^ord  Jesus 
Christ,  in  the  benignity  of  his  Almighty  providence, 
augment  the  number  of  those  faithful  pastors,  that  his 
flock  may  be  fed,  and  nourished,  and  enlarged. 

But  that  the  great  majority  of  clergy,  under  that 
ecclesiastico-political  establishment,  where,  from  the 
very  commencement  of  the  Reformation,  in  the  reign 
of  Henry  the  eighth,  the  maxim  has  been  laid  down, 
that  the  king  is  pope  in  England,  should  he  formalists 
and  worldlings,  seems  to  be  a  necessary  consequence 
of  the  unnatural  alliance  between  church  and  state,  and 
the  pernicious  system  of  individual  and  secular  patron- 
age ;  converting  the  whole  Anglican  ecclesiastical  es- 
tablishment into  a  well  organized  scheme  of  political 
machinery,  and  ministerial  management;  instead  of 
being,  what  it  ought  to  be,  a  church  and  clergy,  dedi- 


376  EYANGEI.ICAI.    PREACHING. 

cated  to  the  service  and  glory  of  God;  and  to  promot- 
ing the  interests  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom,  by  preach- 
ing earnestly  and  continually,  to  their  perishing  fellow- 
sinners,  the  all  important  doctrines  of  repentance,  faith, 
obedience,  and  love. 

FelicCy  qucm  faciunl  aliena  pericula  cautiim.  It 
would  be  of  incalculable  benefit,  both  to  priest  and 
people,  if  the  American- Anglo  Church  could  be  in- 
duced to  avoid  the  formal  wreck  rock  of  her  established 
mother  in  England  ;  and  incite  her  own  ministers  to  com- 
pose and  preach  regular  series  of  sermons,  on  the  essen 
tial  and  distinguishing  doctrines  of  revelation.  For 
example, — original  sin,  human  depravity,  spiritual,  not 
baptismal  regeneration,  the  plenary  atonement,  justifica- 
tion by  faith,  the  sanctification  of  the  Holy  Spirit ; 
and  all  those  peculiar  tenets,  which  every  evangelical 
denomination  in  the  Christian  church  considers  as  of  vital 
importance,  to  be  believed,  promulgated,  and  practised. 

Such  preaching,  with  the  scrupulous  avoidance  of  all 
controversy,  both  in  and  out  of  the  pulpit,  in  relation 
to  the  extreme,  debatable  points  of  every  systematic 
creed ;  and  supporting  every  position  advanced,  by 
apt  citations  from  the  oracles  of  God,  and  from  the 
truly  evangelical  articles  and  homilies  of  the  Anglican 
church  ;  would  materially  tend  to  their  own  spiritual 
instruction  ;  to  the  edification  of  their  flocks ;  to  the 
strengthening  and  adorning  of  the  church  of  Christ  ; 
to  the  extension  of  the  borders  of  the  Redeemer's  king- 
dom. 

Such  preaching  alone,  well  seconded  by  a  faithful 
and  vigilant  discharge  of  pastoral  duty,  ca7i  give  to 
the  American -Anglo- Church  a  level  ground  of  equa- 
lity, in  numbers,  influence,  efficiency  and  power,  with 
those  other  religious  denominations,  which  proclaim  the 
unsearchable  riches  of  the  everlasting  Gospel,  in  purity, 
zeal,   and  strength. 

To  which  add,  as  an  essential  part  of  clerical  in- 
struction, the  continual  evangelical  exposition  of  the 
Holy    Scri])tures,   as  ihe  great   statute  book  of  Chris- 


CHUKCH    OF    GOD.  J.  7 

tianity ;  as  containing  an  inspired  account  of  the 
church  of  God,  through  all  its  various  dispensations, 
patriarchal,  Jewish  and  Christian  ;  in  relation  to  the 
stupendous  scheme  of  human  redemption  ;  in  subordi- 
nation to  whicli,  the  whole  material  universe,  with  all 
its  elements  of  earth,  and  air,  and  flood,  and  fire,  and 
all  its  living  agencies  and  movements,  was  created ; 
and  will  be  preserved  and  directed  by  the  hand  of 
Divine  Providence,  until  the  consummation  of  all 
things ;  when  the  heavens  shall  be  rolled  together  as  a 
scroll,  and  all  the  beauties  and  glories  of  this  visible 
creation  will  be  swept  away. 

But  so  long  as  formalism  infests  the  church,  and 
substitutes  hebdomadal  essays  of  cold,  diluted,  semi- 
pagan,  unsanctioned  ethics,  and  a  full  reliance  upon 
extenial  order,  forms,  ceremonies,  and  rites,  in  the 
place  of  the  essential  doctrines  of  the  cross,  and 
earnest,  faithful,  pastoral  visitation  ;  so  long  will  she 
continue  to  languish,  and  decline,  and  fall  fearfully 
below  the  level  of  other  Christian  denominations. 
The  only  possible  method  of  restoring  her  vitality, 
strength  and  beauty,  is  to  bring  her  hack  to  the  great 
standards  of  the  Reformation  ;  to  cause  her  clergy  to 
tread  in  the  footsteps  of  Cranmer,  Ridley,  Latimer, 
Jewel,  and  of  their  faithful  followers  and  successors. 
Hall,  Hopkins,  Pearson,  Usher,  Beveridge,  and  a 
thousand  other  bright  and  burning  lights,  whose  la^ 
hours  illumined  the  church,  and  gladdened  the  hearts 
of  all  sincere  believers  in  the  mysteries  of  godliness ; 
who,  being  long  since  dead  and  mouldering  in  the 
silence  of  the  sepulchre,  yet  speak  with  most  miracu- 
lous organ ;  and  whose  works  will  continue,  as  a 
path-way  of  light,  to  direct  all  those  who  in  singleness 
of  heart  and  in  humility,  seek  the  truth  in  Christ, 
until  the  tide  of  time  shall  be  swallowed  up  in  the  ocean 
of  eternity. 

Not  now  to  urge  the  evils  of  the  collegiate  system, 
which  is  still  too  prevalent  in  the  American-Anglo- 
Church,     and    which,  almost    of    necessity,    precludes 


378  ENGLISH    CHUliCH    PREACHING. 

the  appearance  of  the  same  preacher  in  the  pulpit, 
twice  in  succession,  and  consequently  allows  no  op- 
portunity of  coimected  theological  instruction  ;  there 
are  very  seldom  heard  in  that  church,  even  where 
the  collegiate,  cureless  disease  does  not  prevail,  any 
other  sort  of  sermons,  save  only  isolated,  detached 
essays,  on  single  texts.  Seldom  indeed,  are  there 
any  regular  series  of  sermons  on  the  great  vital  doc- 
trines of  Christianity ;  as  revealed  in  Holy  Writ,  as 
embodied  in  the  articles  and  homilies  of  the  Anglican 
Church,  and  as  distinguished  from  a  mere  sclieme  of 
human  ethics.  Antl  equally  seldom  is  there  any 
regular  exposition  of  the  Word  of  God :  without 
which,  it  is  not  easy  to  discern,  how  any  congregation 
can  be  built  up ;  nay,  even  grounded  in  the  knowledge 
of  those  things  which  belong  unto  their  everlasting 
peace. 

Nor  is  it  less  difficult  to  imagine,  how  a  preacher 
will  be  able  to  excuse  such  awful  omissions  of  most 
important  duties,  at  that  day,  when  the  Judge  of  the 
quick  and  the  dead  shall  allot  to  every  one  liis  eter- 
nal, unchangeable  portion.  And  too  seldom  is  per- 
formed regular  pastoral  duty  ;  that  diligent  domestic 
inspection  of  the  souls  committed  to  the  care  of  their 
spiritual  shepherds ;  in  the  neglect  of  which  duty,  7io 
church  has  ever  yet  thrived  in  spiritual-mindedncss,  and 
holy  practice. 

The  cold,  lifeless,  formal,  un evangelical  preach- 
ing of  the  great  body  of  the  established  English 
clergy,  has  long  been  proverbial  to  the  whole  world. 
Even  the  most  decent  of  these  clerical  formalists  dole 
out  Sabbatical  discourses,  dry,  methodical,  and  un- 
affecting,  with  a  delivery  most  calmly  insipid ;  so 
that  if  the  peaceful  preacher  should  perchance  peep 
over  the  pulpit  cushion,  which  alone  he  seems  to  ad- 
dress, he  might  discover,  that  his  audience  had  taken 
refuge  in  sleep  from  the  monotonous  hum  of  their  cle- 
rical instructor. 

A  large  portion  of  the  English  national  clergy  do 
not  even  affect    to   preach  their   oicn  sermons ;    they 


READY    MADE    SERMONS.  379 

cither  transcribe  those  already  in  pnblic  circulation  ; 
or,  what  is  very  common,  use  those  which  arc  print- 
ed, as  if  they  were  manuscripts,  with  their  appro- 
priate blottings  and  erasures.  Such  being  constantly 
on  sale  by  the  booksellers  in  London,  at  the  moderate 
price  of  less  than  two  dollars  a  dozen. 

This  second-hand  mode  of  clerical  instruction  is 
not  new.  Mr.  Toplady  mentions  it  as  existing  when 
he  was  quite  a  young  man  In  a  letter,  dated  Feb- 
ruary 1775,  he  says,  —  in  the  spring  of  1762,  a 
month  or  two  before  I  took  deacon's  orders,  I  was 
cheapening  some  books  of  Osborne,  Dr.  Johnson's 
bookselling  friend.  After  that  business  was  over,  he 
took  me  to  the  farthest  end  of  his  long  shop,  and  in  a 
low  voice,  said — "  Sir,  you  will  soon  be  ordained ;  I 
suppose  you  have  not  laid  in  a  very  great  stock  of 
sermons,  I  can  supply  you  with  as  many  sets  as  you 
please ;  all  originals,  very  excellent ;  and  they  will 
come  for  a  trifle." 

JNIy  answer  was, — I  certainly  shall  never  be  a  cus- 
tomer to  you  in  that  way  ;  for  I  am  of  opinion,  that 
the  man  wlio  cannot,  or  will  not,  make  his  own  ser- 
mons, is  quite  unjd  to  wear  the  gown.  How  could  you 
think  of  my  buying  ready  made  sermons  ?  I  would 
much  sooner,  if  I  must  do  one  or  the  other,  buy  ready 
made  clothes.  His  answer  shocked  me  : — "  nay, 
young  gentleman,  do  not  be  surprised  at  my  offering 
you  ready  made  sermons;  for  I  assure  you,  I  have 
sold  ready  made  sermons  to  many  a  bishop,  in  my 
time." 

As  facts  are  the  most  irresistible  of  all  arguments  it 
may  be  well  to  adduce  a  specimiCn  of  this  mode,  of 
reasoning,  in  order  to  show  forth  the  condition  of  the 
evangelical  clergy  in  the  English  church  establishment, 
in  consequence  of  the  appointment  of  political,  formal 
bishops  by  secular  governments. 

A  recent  act  of  parliament,  called  the  consolida- 
tion act,  passed  in  the  year  1817,  and  which  embo- 
dies, and  enlarges  the  principal  provisions  of  the 
statute    of   1790,    gives   an    unlimited,   unresponsible 


380  REV.    TNIK.    BUGG. 

])Ower  to  every  Kiiglisli  bishop,  over   the   unbeneficed 

clergy  in  his    diocese.      Dr. ,  who    was   made    a 

bishop,  because,  he  had  been  college  tutor  to  Mr. 
Pitt,  was  not  slow  in  availing  himself  of  the  despotic 
authority  vested  in  him  by  this  pernicious  act,  to 
crush  every  spark  of  established  evangelism  that 
might  happen  to  glimmer  in  his  diocese.  He  has  more 
than  once  driven  the  reverend  Mr.  Bugg  out  of  his 
diocese,  because  he  refused  to  believe,  nay,  com- 
pletely refuted  the  popish  doctrine  of  bai)tismal  re- 
generation. 

The  last  time,  not  long  since,  this  evangelical 
l)reacher  was  driven  from  Lutterworth ;  from  the 
very  pulpit,  where  the  venerable  AVickliff  first  ])ro- 
mulgated  these  same  Scriptural  doctrines,  so  offen- 
sive to  the  pelagian  nostrils  of  so  many  of  the  modern 
lords  spiritual  of  the  Anglican  Church.  Mr.  Bugg's 
own  pamphlet,  written,  to  be  sure,  in  a  style  of  suf- 
ficient irritation,  as  of  one  smarting  under  a  sense  of 
flagrant  oppression,  gives  a  full  account  of  the  treat- 
ment which  is  nox^  systematically  inflicted  on  the 
evangelical  jiortion  of  the  English  national  clergy ; 
that  little  portion,  whose  sole  crime  it  is,  faithfully  to 
promulgate  the  protestant  doctrines  of  the  Reformation, 
as  they  are  expressed  in  the  public  formularies  of  the 
^Vnglican  Church. 

Another  evangelical  curate  this  same  ungodly 
jjrelate  silenced,  for  going  to  hear  a  dissenting  mi- 
nister preach  ;  an  W7iauthorized,  mvalid,  niicoycimwt- 
ed  preacher.  If  this  be  a  fundamental,  deadly  sin, 
the  late  eminently  pious  bishop  Home  ought  to  have 
been  unfrocked ;  for  he  was  in  the  habit  of  hearing 
the  methodist  preachers  hold  forth  in  his  own  dio- 
cese. 

Early  in  the  year  1820,  this  same  modern  Eaud 
sent  the  following  notice,  at  the  instigation,  it  is  sup- 
posed, of  a  neighbouring  diocesan,  who  hates  all 
evangelism,  with  as  perfect  a  hatred  as  Hildebrand 
himself  could    do.     The    notice    was  addressed  to  the 


RRV.   Dlt.  STUAllT.  381 

reverend   Mr.  C ,  the  curate  of  a   living  held  by 

the  honourable  and  reverend  Dr.  Stuart,  brother  of  the 
earl  of  Gahvay,  and  well  known  as  a  faithful  evangelical 
pastor,  and  visiting  missionary  in  the  Canadas;  an  apo- 
stolic minister,  who  has  left  all  the  allurements  of  birth, 
and  rank,  and  fortune,  and  clerical  preferment  in 
England,  in  order  to  plant  the  standard  of  the  cross  in 
the  Canadian  ^Vilderness. 

Tlie  bishop's  truly  episcopal  notice  to  Mr.  C.  was,  in 
substance,  tliat  his  manner  of  celebrating  divine  service 
gave  offence  to  sober-minded  persons,  and,  therefore,  he 
should  cease  from  preaching  in  the  parish  where  he 
now  officiated,  and  should  not  take  any  other  curacy 
in  tlie  diocese ;  but  in  consideration  of  his  own  ex- 
treme poverty,  and  his  numerous  family,  he  miglit 
continue  in  his  present  curacy  until  next  T^ady-day, 
(March  25th,  1820,)  provided  he  would  immediately 
give  up  his  A^'^ednesday  evening  lecture  and  prayer 
meeting. 

As  soon  as  it  was  known  that  the  bishop  had  sent 
this  peremptory  mandamus,  all  the  adult  parishioners, 
male  and  female,  in  the  parish  where  Mr.  C.  officiated, 
signed  and  sent  to  their  diocesan  a  strong  memorial, 
setting  forth  their  decided  attachment  to  their  exiled 
curate,  and  showing  how  much  the  cliurch  had  prospered 
under  his  faithful  ministration  ;  and  concluding  with 
an  earnest  petition,  that  their  beloved  pastor  might  not 
be  driven  away  from  them. 

This  memorial  sealed  the  luckless  curate's  doom  ; 
that  the  people  of  the  parish  which  he  served  were 
attached  to,  and  prospered  under,  his  ministrations, 
only  quickened  the  antichristian  zeal  of  B pa- 
lace, and  the  decree  of  positive  suspension  was  im- 
mediately issued.  Is  there  not  sufficient  ability,  with 
sufficient  inclination,  in  the  evangelical  portion  of 
the  cliurch  of  England,  to  rescue  this  unprotected 
advocate  of  Gospel  truth,  from  tlic  persecuting  fangs 
of  prelatical  formalism  ?  or,  must  he  be  driven  into 
the  ranks    of  evangelical  disscnterism,    where,   as  the 


382  RISnOP    TOMLINE. 

law  noxv  stands,  no  thanks  to  lord  Sidmouth,  neither 
the  British  government,  nor  its  state  bishops,  have  any 
power  to  crush  Christianity. 

The  British  government  has  not  yet  given  to  its 
bishops  the  same  uncontrolled  power  over  its  incumbent 
vicars  and  rectors,  as  over  the  unfortunate  curates  and 
])resentees,  in  their  respective  dioceses.  If  it  had, 
doubtless,  the  late  venerable  rector  of  Aston  Sandford, 
in  Buckinghamshire,  would,  long  since,  have  been 
expelled  from  the  diocese  of  Lincoln,  for  his  evan- 
gelical sermons,  his  "  Force  of  Truth,"  his  "  Theolo- 
gical Essays,"  his  "  Family  Bible,"  and  all  his  other 
eminent  labours  in  the  service  of  his  blessed  T^ord  and 
Master. 

Bishop  Tomline  would  have  found  it  much  easier 
to  drive  the  exc^lent  Thomas  Scott  out  of  his  church 
living,  than  to  answer  his  "  Remarks,"  on  what,  with 
characteristic  arrogance,  the  prelate  calls  "  a  Refutation 
of  Calvinism."  It  is  much  easier,  says  Mr.  Scott,  to 
say,  that  Calvin's  attachment  to  his  system  was  blind, 
than  to  refute  that  system.  Probably,  Calvin  spent 
more  years  in  studying  the  Scriptures,  with  constant 
prayer  for  the  promised  teachings  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
than  many  who  exclaim  against  him  and  his  doctrine, 
have  done  months,  nay,  weeks.  To  select  passages,  in 
a  measure  exceptionable,  from  such  copious  works  as 
those  of  Calvin,  may  not  be  very  difficult ;  but  to  fol- 
low him  in  his  train  of  argument,  from  one  end  to  the 
other,  even  of  one  of  them,  and  satisfactorily  to  answer 
him,  hie  labor,  hoc  opus  est. 

The  British  government  has  only  to  fill  all  its  se- 
veral sees  with  formal,  secular  bishops,  and  give  them 
the  same  statute  power  over  vicars  and  rectors,  as  it  has 
already  given  over  curates  and  presentees ;  in  other 
words,  to  subject  the  beneficed  clergy  of  the  establish- 
ment, to  the  same  despotism  that  is  exercised  over  its 
'//;zbeneficcd  clerks ;  and  it  will  soon  have  its  state 
church  completely  cleansed  from  every  vestige  of  piety 
and  holiness  ;  will  soon  reduce  that  church,  for  which 
the   saintly  Edward   laboured,    and   Cranmer   burned, 


AJMEIHOAN    TOM  LINES.  383 

and  tlic  noble  army  of  martyrs  died,  to  the  level  of 
the  temj^le  of  Diana  at  Ephesns ;  or  the  pantheon 
at  Rome;  or  the  pagodal  car  of  the  homicidal  Jug- 
gernaut. 

But  then  the  British  government  must  ?iot  marvel 
at  the  rapid  growth  of  dissent;  nor  at  the  approach  of 
that  hour  of  retribution,  when  a  Christian  people  will 
sliakc  from  off  their  indimiaut  shoulders,  like  dew 
drops  from  a  lion's  mane,  the  burden,  and  the  pollu- 
tion, and  the  iniquity  of  a  hcathoi  church,  however 
intimately  connected  with,  and  subservient  to,  the 
political  movements,  schemes,  and  plans  of  a  secular 
empire. 

Our  own  American  Tomlines,  to  be  sure,  owing 
to  an  unlucky  little  clause  in  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States,  can  derive  no  power,  either  from  Con- 
gress, or  from  any  of  the  state  legislatures,  to  drive 
away  out  of  their  dioceses,  and  consign  over  to  na- 
kedness, and  hunger,  and  barren  sorrow,  and  desti- 
tution, any  misadventured  wight  in  the  protestant 
episcopal  church,  who  may  happen  to  preach  the 
Gospel,  in  conformity  to  the  doctrines  revealed  in 
Holy  Writ,  and  contained  in  the  liturgy,  articles,  and 
homilies,  which  he  solemnly  subscribed  at  his  ordina- 
tion. 

Kut  what  they  ca?i,  they  do,  ea^  animo,  with  all  their 
heart,  in  this  labour  of  love.  A  celebrated  Italian 
anatomist,  of  modern  times,  laments,  that  "  prce  ini- 
quitate  tcmporum,''^  he  is  not  allowed  to  dissect  living 
men,  and,  therefore,  is  obliged  to  content  himself 
with  cutting  up  live  grayhounds  and  other  inferior 
animals.  So  our  Tomlines  and  Marshes  pathetically 
complain,  that,  through  the  iniquity  of  the  times,  in 
this  uncivilized  republic,  they  cannot  walk  pai^i  passu, 
with  their  thrice  worthy  brethren  in  England;  but, 
(IS  fur  as  they  dare,  they  openly  and  avowedly  dis- 
countenance all  approach  towards  evangelism,  by  en- 
dea\ouring  to  heap  every  species  of  opprobrium  on 
those  who  preach  the  doctrines  of  grace ;  those  doc- 
trines, to    establish    which,    our    great   protestant   re- 


384  PRAVixr.   rrxisiiF.D. 

formers  gave  iJicir  tliroats  to  the  knife  of  papal,  per- 
secuting, pelagian  Rome. 

The  wisdom  and  the  wit  of  our  American-Anglo- 
Churc'h  formalists  are  put  in  constant  requisition 
ao-ainst  the  evangelical  clergy,  and  find  copious  vent  in 
proscribing  them  as  "  canticle  men,  Calvinists,  method- 
ists,  schismatics,  enthusiasts,  fanatics,  prcshytcrians," — 
and  a  long  muster-roll  of  other  appellations,  equally 
damnatory,  and  equally  consistent. 

But  as  the  paper  quillets  of  the  brain  break  no  bones, 
recourse  is  sometimes  had  to  arguments,  more  substantial 
than  can  be  forged  in  the  mere  armory  of  wit.  Not 
very  long  since,  one  of  the  presbyters  in  the  Amcrican- 
An<Tlo-Church  was  arraigned  before  his  diocesan  con- 
vention, for  the  deadly  sin  of  holding  prayer  meetings 
in  his  congregation.  An  old  lay  delegate,  not  himself 
any  great  dragon  of  evangclisni,  but  a  long-headed, 
clear-sighted,  forecasting  politician,  perceiving  the  evil 
consequences  of  such  an  unwise,  intemperate,  un- 
christian accusation,  put  an  end  to  this  pitiable 
chapter  of  puny,  paltry  persecution,  by  observing, 
that  this  was  i\\e  first  instance  in  the  United  States, 
of  a  man's  being  liad  up  before  a  religious  body  for 
praying. 

This  is  not  the  only  instance  of  the  defeat  of  eccle- 
siastical oppression  in  the  American  churclics,  by  the 
superior  wisdom,  and  more  tolerant  disposition  of  the 
lay  delegates. 

To  all  formalists  of  every  age,  and  cither  sex, 
whether  clerical  or  laic,  both  in  these  United  States 
and  in  England,  I  would  recommend  the  concluding 
periods  of  Mr.  Scott's  "  Remarks"  on  ]>ishop  Tom- 
line's  "  Refutation."  And  now,  says  the  venerable 
champion  of  evangelical  truth,  at  the  close  of  this 
work,  I  may,  perhaps,  assume  some  measure  of  con- 
fidence not  unlike  what  the  very  title  of  his  lord- 
ship's book  contains.  1  am  confident,  that  I  have 
ilemonstrated  the  doctrines,  commonly  called  Calvin - 
istic,  though  not  every  tenet  of  Calvin,  to  be  those 
of  our  liturgy,  articles,   and  homilies;  and  of  the  re- 


FORMALISM    DEPOPULATES.  SH5 

formers,  both  before  mid  after  Mary's  reijo^n,  who 
compiled  them  ;  and  1  call  on  the  opponents  of  Cal 
vini.sm  to  disprove  this,  if  they  can,  by  fair  quota- 
tions, and  substantial  arguments,  for  assertions-  must 
go  for  nothing.  I  trust  I  have  also  shown  tlicm  to 
be  the  doctrines  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  both  in  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments. 

But  before  I  close,  I  would  drop  one  hint.  If,  in- 
deed, the  doctrines  in  question  be  those  of  our  esta- 
blished church,  and  its  rulers  should,  in  general, 
proceed  on  the  plan  adopted  by  some  of  them  ; 
namely,  that  of  diHcrcditin^'  as  much  as  they  can,  the 
most  })ious,  laborious,  and  competent  (dcrgymon, 
who  hold  them.  If,  when  one  of  these  is  removed, 
they  make  a  point  of  substituting  in  his  place  a  man 
of  discordant  principles :  If  they  discourage,  a.s  to 
ordination,  the  most  exemplary,  regular,  and  unexcep- 
tionable men,  in  all  other  things  ;  even  if  suspected, 
by  reason  of  their  connexions  and  friendships,  of 
holding  these  sentiments ;  and  prefer  men  o^ far  in- 
ferior talents,  learning,  and  even  moral  character  ; 
will  they  not,  with  their  own  hands,  subvert  the  esta- 
blishment ? 

Could  a  shrewd  dissenter,  if  admitted  as  an  unsus- 
pected privy  counsellor,  give  them  more  appropriate 
advice,  in  order  to  accomplish  Ills  purpose  of  gaining  an 
ascendancy  to  the  dissenting  interest  ? 

They  wlio  have  been  used  to  hear  the  evanQ;eHcal 
doctrines,  in  which  the  question,  what  must  I,  a  lost 
sinner,  do  to  be  saved  ?  is  constantly  asked,  and  clear- 
ly answered;  if  they  attend  to  it,  they  will  never 
after  endure  another  doctrine,  in  which  this  question 
is  iwt  answered  to  their  satisfaction.  However  at- 
tached to  the  establishment,  thev  will,  at  length,  seek 
at  the  meeting  that  instruction  which  they  cannot 
find  at  church  ;  and  though  this,  at  first,  be  the  only 
inducement,  yet  becoming  acquainted  with  dissent- 
ers, and  heaiing  all  their  objections ;  having,  at  the 
same  time,  no  one  at  hand  to  answer  tiiem ;  they 
will    gradually  imbibe    the    esprit  de  corps  and  per- 

2  c 


386  THE    ANGLICAN    CHURCir. 

baps  at  length  become  7no7^e  zealous  dissenters  tban 
they  to  whom  they  join  themselves. 

Thus,  hundreds  often  become  dissenters,  simply 
by  the  removal  of  an  evangelical  clergyman,  and  the 
substitution  of  a  formalist  in  his  place  ;  who  has  the 
mortification  of  officiating  in  an  almost  empty  church  ; 
while  his  sole  relief  consists  in  declaiming  against 
Calvinists  and  dissenters,  which  makes  the  case  still 
worse. 

All  this  would  be  prevented,  if  a  competent  evan- 
gelical man  were  appointed,  if  not  as  rector,  yet  as 
curate,  to  succeed  one  of  his  own  sentiments ;  and 
the  formalist  were  more  comfortably  provided  for 
elsewhere.  And  unless  it  be  vainly  su])posed,  that 
authority  can  crush  the  whole  party,  this  would  be  the 
more  politic  conduct. 

Again,  a  young  man,  who  desires  the  ministry  as  a 
good  work  ;  pro  ojjlcio,  not  pro  heneficio  ;  who  can, 
without  hesitation,  declare,  that  he  thinks  himself 
moved  by  the  Holy  Gljost,  to  take  this  office  upon 
him,  will  never,  finally,  give  up  his  object.  \i ex- 
cluded from  the  churc]i,  what  he  counts  ill  usage  will 
weaken  his  attachment;  his  objections  to  the  dis- 
senting cause  will  proportionaliy  abate ;  and  he  will 
gradually  be  led  to  enter  the  ministry  among  the  dis- 
senters. And  as  these  things,  considering  what  hu- 
man nature  is  at  the  best,  cannot  but  tend  to  alienate 
his  mind  from  those  who  have  been  unkind  to  him, 
and  to  attach  it  to  those  who  are  kind,  the  heart  hav- 
ing a  vast  effect  on  the  judgment,  it  will  not  be  won- 
derful if,  at  length,  he  becomes  a  zealous  dissenter, 
and  the  champion  of  the  party  ;igainst  the  church  of 
England. 

Thus,  some  of  the  most  pious,  able,  and  even 
learned  of  oiu*  young  men,  having  received  a  univer- 
sity education,  in  order  to  be  ministers  of  the  esta- 
blishment, may  be  thrown  into  the  opposite  interest, 
and  spend  all  their  lives,  and  talents,  in  a  manner 
unfavourable  to  her  predominance  in  the  nation. 
Our  danger,  therefore,  is  more  from  within,  than  from 


EVANGF.LISM    I-II,I,St.^T.  38? 

xvilhout,  whatever  niinibers  may  suppose ;  far  more, 
from  our  owji  negligence  and  impolicy,  than  from  the 
machinations  of  any  adversaries. 

Mr.  Scott  is  emphatically  correct  in  this  statement, 
that  JbrmaHsm  is  the  deadly  plague,  which,  if  not 
stopped,  must  infallibly  destroy  the  Anglican  Church 
estaidishmcnt.  The  resistless  proof  of  this  awful 
fact  is  inscribed  in  large  and  legible  characters  upon 
the  face  of  her  w-holc  liistory.  From  that  fatal  hour 
when  Laud  first  carried  her  over  from  the  truly 
Scriptural  doctrines  of  her  liturgy,  articles,  and  ho- 
milies, into  nominal  Arminianism,  but  real  formalism, 
she  declined  rapidly  ;  and  other  denominations  gain- 
ed ground  upon  her,  in  spite  of  her  borrowing,  witli 
close  and  bloody  imitation  of  papal  Rome,  the  aid 
of  the  .secular  arm  ;  in  spite  of  her  persuasive  argu- 
ments, drawn  from  the  star-chamber  and  from  parlia- 
ment, in  the  forms  of  pillory,  scourge,  dungeon,  and 
gibbet. 

Her  declension  through  so  long  a  period,  was  por- 
tentous of  her  approaching  dissolution,  when,  in  the 
reign  of  George  the  second,  a  revival  of  religion 
took  place  in  Kngland ;  and  some  evangelical  clergy- 
men appeared  in  the  establishment,  preaching  the 
great  doctrines  of  the  Reformation,  from  which  Laud, 
like  Jeroboam,  the  son  of  Nebat,  who  made  Israel 
to  sin,  had  seduced  her  into  the  idolatries  of  Popery, 
and  into  the  blasphemies  of  Pelagianism,  The 
blessing  of  God  has  crowned  the  labours  of  these 
faithful  men,  who,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  some 
modern  worthy  prelatical  followers  of  Land,  to  crush 
all  evangelism  in  the  church  of  F'iUgland,  are  increas- 
ing; and  a?^e,  wc  pray,  and  liopc,  the  instruments  in 
the  hand  of  Jehovah  Jesus,  destined  to  save  that 
venerable  church  from  sinking  amidst  the  ruin  and  the 
pollution  of  formalism. 

These  evangelical  clergy  always  fill  their  churches 
to  the  overflowing,  and  other  denominations  make 
no  headway  in  their  parishes  ;  while  the  formalists 
enjoy    the    unenviable    privilege     of    preaching    to    a 

2  c  2 


388  TWO    ENDS    OF    PREACHING. 

beggarly  account  of  empty  pews ;  and  of  railing, 
long  and  loud,  against  all  dissenters,  who,  by  these 
profound  divines,  are  all  stigmatized  as  Calvinists, 
this  being  the  present  fashionable,  formal  terra  of 
reproach  against  all  serious  persons,  as  that  of  method- 
isU\  was,  a  few  years  since ;  however  varying  from 
each  other  in  faith  and  doctrine  through  all  the  shades 
of  difference,  from  supralapsarianism,  down  to  the  mo- 
dern threadbare  tissue  of  infidelity  and  impiety,  cloaked 
in  its  multiplicity  of  names,  whether  Socinianism,  or 
unitarianism,  or  humanitarianism,  or  necessarianism, 
and  I  know  not  how  many  other  isms. 

The  two  main,  legitimate  ends  of  Christian_.^preach- 
ing  are,  the  coiwersion  of  sinners,  and  the  edification 
of  saints ;  both  of  which  objects  the  formalists  are  so 
ingenious  as  to  escape  altogether.  For  as  they  pro- 
fess to  believe  in  the  exploded  popish  tenet  of  hap- 
tismcd  regeneration,  which  assumes,  that  sprinkling  a 
little  water  into  the  face  of  an  infant,  and  making  the 
sign  of  the  cross  on  its  forehead,  will  wash  away  all 
sin,  and  turn  a  sinner  into  a  saint ;  according  to 
them,  there  can  be  )io  such  thing  as  the  conversion  of 
sinners  by  the  renewing  influences  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  of  which  the  Scriptures,  both  in  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments,  are  so  full ;  and  on  which  all  Gospel 
ministers,  of  every  various  denomination,  so  strenuously 
insist. 

And  as  for  edifying  the  saints,  or  evangelical  pro- 
fessors, formalists  neither  have,  nor  desire  to  have 
any  intercourse  or  acquaintance  with  such  persons. 
On  the  contrary,  they  are  continually  reviling  and 
loading  them  with  what  they  think,  the  most  oppro- 
brious appellations ;  as  fanatics,  enthusiasts,  schis- 
matics, and  so  forth.  The  very  term  saints,  is  here, 
as  in  England,  a  never  failing  signal  for  the  sardo- 
nic smile  of  formalism ;  and  that  too,  from  men, 
whose  church  calendar  is  crowded  with  saints,  and 
whose  churches  generally  bear  the  baptismal  name 
of  some  saint,  ancient  or  modern. 


IIETAIIDED    FROGKESS.  389 

So  that,  what  with  the  lahours  of  the  formalists,  in 
endeavouring  to  steer  equally  clear  of  the  conversion 
of  sinners,  on  one  hand,  and  the  edification  of  saints, 
on  the  other ;  far  more  terrible  to  them,  than  were 
Scylla  and  Charybdis  to  the  ignorant  mariners  of  old  ; 
it  is  not  very  marvellous,  if  tJieir  Sabbatical  effusions 
altogether  escape  the  imputation  of  awakening  sinners 
from  the  sleep  of  death  ;  of  convicting  the  hardened 
unbeliever  ;  of  comforting  the  afflicted  ;  of  strengthen- 
ing the  feeble;  of  proclaiming  tlie  glad  tidings  of 
salvation  to  the  unregenerate  millions  of  a  ruined  world: 
of  pointing  out  the  road  to  heaven,  and  leading  the 
way  thither,  by  a  living  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  as  God,  their  infinite  sacrifice — God,  their 
everlasting  righteousness — God,  tJieir  all  prevailing 
intercessor. 

The  real  cause  why  the  American- Anglo-Church 
is  so  fearfully  in  the  wake  of  other  denominations, 
presbyterian,  congregational,  baptist,  and  methodist, 
is  to  be  found  in  the  prevalence  of  formalism  in  her 
clergy.  The  ostensible  reasons  given  for  this  woful 
inferiority,  are,  that  episcopacy  was  in  bad  odour  with 
the  American  citizens,  during  and  after  the  revolu- 
tionary war  ;  and  that  its  church  order  is  not  so  con- 
sonant with  the  institutions  and  habits  of  a  republic, 
as  are  those  of  presbyterianism  and  independency. 

But  quite  sufficient  time  has  now  elapsed  to  qua- 
rantine away  the  infectious  taint  of  toryism,  which  was 
supposed  to  hang  about  episcopacy  during  the  stormy 
period  of  the  revolution  ;  and  episcopalians  have  shown 
themselves  to  be,  in  word  and  deed,  as  good  citizens, 
in  every  relation,  social  and  public,  as  the  members 
and  professors  of  any  other  religious  persuasion.  And 
certainly,  there  is  nothing  in  the  genius  and  spirit 
of  the  Christian  religion,  under  vchatever  form  of 
external  church  order  it  may  be  administered,  that 
militates  against  any  form  of  civil  society ;  pj'ovided, 
the  particular  sect  adhere  faithfully  to  the  pure 
principles   and  prece])ts  of  the  Gospel  ;  and  provided 


390  OF    AMEIUCAN-ANGI.O-CHUKCH. 

also,  it   be   altogether   unconnected  with   the  state,  or 
body  politic. 

No ; — these  are  not  the  reasons  why  episcopacy 
halts,  pcde  claudo,  behind  the  other  Christian  sects. 
Its  lameness  is  owing  to  the  leprosy  of  formalism,  which 
taints  its  lifeblood,  shrinks  its  sinews,  and  corrupts 
its  carcase.  Wherever  formalism  prevails  in  any  Ame- 
rican church,  there  is  no  possible  demand  either  for 
piety,  or  talent,  or  learning,  in  the  ministers  of  that 
church. 

No  bounty  for  piety;  because  formalists  proscribe 
every  thing  in  the  shape  of  evangelism,  with  as  much 
venom,  though,  thanks  to  the  law  of  the  land,  not  with 
so  much  physical  force  and  power,  as  ever  did  the 
monsters  of  papal  iniquity,  in  Europe's  darkest  night 
of  superstition,  ignorance,  and  clerical  despotism.  No 
bounty  for  talent  or  learning ;  because,  iiidependently 
of  the  controlling  influence  of  piety,  which  may  be, 
and  often  is  given  to  the  highest  talents,  and  most 
extensive  acquisitions ;  and  wJien  given,  would  prompt 
its  possessor  to  preach  Jesus  Christ,  and  him  crucified, 
in  prej'ereooce  to  leading  myriads  of  armed  warriors 
to  victory ;  or  to  shaking  senates  with  the  thunder 
of  eloquence ;  or  to  guiding  a  nation  in  prosperous 
triumph  through  the  thorny  mazes  of  intricate  policy  ; 
because,  independently  of  the  controlling  influence  of 
piety,  the  provision  for  clergy  of  all  denominations 
iu  this  country,  is  too  moderate,  to  induce  high  ta- 
lent and  extensive  learning,  to  crowd  into  the  clerical 
calling  ;  when  a  civil,  or  military,  or  naval,  or  com- 
mercial direction  of  that  learning  and  that  talent, 
would  lead  to  the  loftiest  public  honours,  to  the  ac- 
quisition of  wealth,  influence,  authority,  power,  re- 
putation ;  all  that  the  prince  of  this  world  has  to  bestow, 
upon  the  votaries  of  an  unregenerate,  unsanctified  am- 
bition. 

Doubtless,  in  exm^y  section  of  the  Christian  church, 
where  evangelism  pervades  the  pulpit,  it  will  never 
want  piety,  talent,  and  learning  in  its  ministers;  nor 


CLERICAL    FORMALISM.  391 

where  these  ministerial  requisites  are  present,  will 
tliere  ever  lack  numbers  of  people  hastening  to  enroll 
themselves  under  the  banner  of  the  cross. 

The   American-Anglo-Church,    therefore,    must    re- 
main  inferior  to  other   denominations  in  clerical  pie- 
ty, talent,  and    learning,   .so    long  as   it   continues   to 
make  formalism  the  God  of  its   idolatry ;    seeing,  that 
formalism    hates    all    evangelical    piety  with   a  perfect 
hatred;    darkness    having    no    fellowship    with    light, 
nor  Belial  with  Christ ;  and  seeing  also,    that  there  is 
not   a   sufficient  bounty  to  draw  great  talent   and  great 
learning,  imthout  piety,  into  the  service  of  the  church. 
If  formalism  be  so  ruinous  to  the  estahUshed  church 
of  England,  which   has  all  the  aid  and  influence,  that 
immense    revenues,    coupled   with  the   protection    and 
])atronage   of   the    civil    government,    can    give ;     how 
much  a  foi'tiori  must  formalism   be  pernicious  to  the 
best   interests   of  the   American-Anglo-Church,  which 
only  stands  on  the  same  level  ground  of  political  privi- 
lege and  right,  with  every  other  Christian  denomina- 
tion ?     Whence   the  resistless  inference,  that  the  pro- 
testant  episcopalian  never  can  equal  other  communions 
in   piety,    talent,    learning,    and   numbers,     until    her 
clergy,  generally,  preach  the  truly  evangelical  doctrines 
of  their  own  articles  and  homilies. 

This  church  must  be  brought  back  to  the  great  stan- 
dard doctrines  of  the  Reformation,  or  she  will  inevitably 
decline ;  malgrc  the  assertions  and  denunciations  of 
her  formalists  to  the  contrary.  The  proof  of  this  fact 
is  so  obvious,  that  he  who  runs  may  read  ;  namely, 
that  wlienever  the  protcstant  episcopal  clergy,  whether 
in  the  United  States  or  in  England,  preach  the  Gospel, 
their  churches  are  crowded  ;  and  whenever  they  preach 
formalism,  they  drive  all  pious  people  into  other  de- 
nominations;  retaining  only  carnal,  careless,  secure, 
unawakened  pharisees  and  worldlings ;  who  occasionally 
saunter  into  church,  if  the  weather  be  good,  or  they 
have  no  other  engagement,   or  it  bcf"  morning. 

One  of  the  slenderest  of  clerical  formalists  is  reported 


392  SABBATICAI-    INDULGENCE. 

to  have  put  on  a  sufficient  quantity  of  compelled  valour 
to  hint  this  to  his  meagre  congregation.  He  told 
them,  that  they  were  all  very  good  Clnistians,  and 
in  a  fair  way  for  the  heavenly  kingdom ;  that  they 
had  all  been  reguhiidy  baptized,  niany  of  them  confirmed, 
and  some  of  them  been  occasionally  at  the  holy  com- 
munion ;  but  that  most  of  them  seldom,  if  ever,  came 
to  church  in  the  afternoon  ;  which  was  not  quite  right, 
though,  to  be  sure,  it  was  very  natural  to  sit  a 
little  longer  at  table  after  dinner,  on  Sunday,  and 
indulge  in  the  innocent  recreation  of  an  extra  glass 
of  wine  ;  which  doubtless  would  be  overlooked  by  a 
merciful  God,  who  always  accepts  sincere,  though  im- 
perfect obedience. 

How  well  all  this  little  puling  theology,  respecting 
the  due  observance  of  tlie  Sabbath,  answers  to  tlie 
Scriptural  requisitions  of  Jehovah  himself,  may  be 
seen  by  consulting  the  book  of  Exodus,  or  the  pro- 
phet Isaiah. 

13ut,  quo  semel  est  imhnta  recens  servnhit  odorem. 
Testa  din; — perhaps  the  foul  and  feculent  tide  of 
formalism  has  run  its  course  so  long  in  the  Anglican 
establishment,  that  little  short  of  the  eighth  Harry's 
arm  is  requisite  to  cleanse  the  Augean  stable.  What 
is  there  in  the  primitive  aspect  of  the  venerable  church 
of  England,  apart  and  separate  from  her  unnatural 
imion  witli  the  state,  to  discourage  or  deter  Chris- 
tians from  seeking  spiritual  refuge  in  her  maternal 
bosom  ?  She  came  out  at  the  day-dawn  of  the  Re- 
formation, from  amidst  the  darkness  and  corruption 
of  popery,  purified  by  blood  and  fire.  She  has  framed 
a  most  evangelical  standard  of  faith  and  doctrine. 
She  has  sent  forth  from  her  teeming  loins  the  most 
learned  body  of  clergy  the  world  ever  saw,  and  has 
diffused  light  and  life  over  all  the  habitable  globe, 
by  her  Bible  societies,  her  missionary  institutions, 
her  religious  tract  associations,  and  her  Sunday 
schools.  And  she  can  only  fall  from  her  ancient  and 
high   estate,  by  the  formalism  of  her  priests   and  peo- 


UNLEARNED    CLERGY.  3^9 

plc,  marring  licr  beauty,  staining  licr  holiness,  quench- 
ing her  existence. 

It  is  moreover  nut  possible  for  the  American-Anglo- 
Church  to  possess  a  body  of  able  and  learned  clergy, 
until  her  formalism  be  merged  in  evangelical  Chris- 
tianity;  because  an  unrcgenerate,  unawakened  laity, 
consisting  of  mere  worldlings,  are  generally  satisfied 
mucli  after  the  manner  of  the  papists,  that  their 
church  order,  their  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons, 
their  baptismal  regeneration,  their  communion,  to 
which  all  are  indiscriminately  admitted,  however 
profane,  or  irregular,  or  profligate  may  be  their 
lives,  will  carry  them  safelv  through,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  without  any  material  trouble  on  their  part, 
and  without  much  pulpit  help.  Whence,  at  their 
occasional  visits  to  the  church,  they  do  7ix)t  pay  any 
very  great  attention  to  the  performances  of  the  preacher. 
And  where  there  is  no  demand  in  the  market  for  talent, 
or  learning,  or  any  other  commodity,  it  will  never  be 
brought  to  market. 

No  valid  objection  to  this  position  can  be  drawn  from 
the  fact,  that  the  Anglican  Church  establishment  is 
full  of  formalism,  and  yet  numbers  many  able  and 
learned  clergymen;  because,  independently  of  all  piety 
that  state  church  offers  a  sufficient  bounty  for  the  at- 
tachment to  her  service,  of  the  highest  talents,  and  the 
most  extensive  erudition,  in  her  emoluments,  her  ho- 
nours, her  influence,  her  power.  The  archbishopric  of 
Canterbury  is  as  great  a  stake  for  which  the  secular 
ambition  of  an  irreligious  man  may  throw,  as  is  the 
lord  high  chancellorship  of  England,  or  the  supreme 
command  of  the  British  armies;  or  the  uncontrolled 
guidance  of  the  vast  and  complicated  political  move- 
ments of  the  British  empire. 

But  in  these  United  States  no  such  clerical  stake 
exists;  the  pay  of  the  clergy  is  too  little,  and  their 
political  influence  still  less,  to  induce,  xvhei^e  the  incite- 
ment of  piety  is  wanting,  first  rate  talents,  and  extra- 
ordinary acquisitions,  to  enlist  themselves  in  the  service 
of  the  sanctuary. 


394    AMEEICAN-ANGLO-CHURCH    PERFORMANCES. 

And  what  U'  the  fact  ?  floes  the  Americati- Anglo- 
Church  cxhihit  in  //t'r  clergy  an  average  of  talent  and 
learning,  in  any  assignable  proportion,  comparable 
to  the  talent  and  learning  displayed  by  other  religious 
denominations?  Where  are  her  Edwardses,  and 
Davieses,  and  Dwights,  and  a  thousand  other  brightly 
burning  luminaries,  that  have  shed  an  imperishable 
lustre  upon  the  presbyterian  and  congregational  per- 
suasions? Where  are  her  theological  treatises;  her 
series  of  sermons  on  the  great,  the  distinguishing  doc- 
trines of  Revelation  ;  her  Biblical  disquisitions  ?  What 
has  she  hitherto  produced  ?  little,  very  little,  except 
some  mewling,  mawkish,  miserable  controversy  about 
external  churchmanship. 

It  is  a  deep  stain  upon  the  American- Anglo-Church, 
tliat  she  alone,  of  all  the  compacted  religious  bodies, 
has  degenerated  into  extensive  formalism.  AVhile  the 
presbyterian s,  of  every  various  shade  in  doctrine,  dis- 
cipline, and  government,  have  continued,  as  Calvin- 
ists,  faithfully  preaching  the  systematic  creed  con- 
tained in  their  respective  confessions ;  and  while  the 
Wesley  an  methodists,  as  Arminians,  have  preserved 
the  system  of  Scriptural  instruction,  handed  down  to 
them  by  their  great  founder  and  leader,  too  many  of 
the  protcstant  episcopal  clergy  have  grievously  swerved 
from  the  high  standard  of  their  own  evangehcal  articles, 
homilies,  and  liturgy ;  to  which  may  the  great  Head 
of  the  church  bring  them  back  with  all  convenient 
speed ! 

As  the  case  now  stands,  we  are  constrained  to  ac- 
knowledge, that  the  preamble  of  the  preface  to  the 
homilies,  as  published  in  the  year  156'2,  is  still  too 
applicable  ;  it  runs  thus:  — 

"  Considering  how  necessary  it  is,  that  the  Word 
of  God,  which  is  the  only  food  of  the  soul,  and  that 
most  excellent  light,  that  we  must  walk  by  in  this 
our  most  dangerous  pilgrimage,  should,  at  all  con- 
venient times,  be  preached  unto  the  people ;  that 
thereby  they  may  both  learn  their  duty  towards  God, 
their    governors     and    their    neighbours,  according    to 


PllOSPKCTS    OF    AMERICAN-ANGI.O-CIU  IH  H.     395 

the  mind  of  the  Holy  Gliost  expressed  in  the  Seri])- 
tures ;  and  also  to  avoid  the  manifold  enormities  which 
heretofore,  by  J'ahe  doctrine,  have  crept  into  the 
church  of  God  ;  and  how  that  all  they  which  are  a])- 
})ointcd  ministers,  have  not  the  gift  of  preaching,  sulli- 
ciently  to  instruct  the  people  which  is  committed  to 
them  ;  whereof  great  inconveniences  might  arise,  and 
ignorance  still  be  maintained,  if  some  honest  remedy 
be  not  speedily  found  and  provided." 

It  is  an  important  consideration,  that  if  the  clergy 
of  the  American-Anglo-Church,  generally,  and  faith- 
fully, proclaim  the  evangelical  doctrines  of  their  own 
public  formularies,  they  have  it  in  their  power,  event- 
ually, to  encircle  more  millions  of  souls  within  the 
])rotestant  episcopal  communion,  than  have  ever  yet 
reposed  within  the  pale  of  the  Anglican  establish- 
ment ;  seeing  that,  ere  long,  the  American  population 
must  fill  up  the  immense  territory  which  stretches 
from  Maine  to  the  Floridas,  and  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Pacific  ocean  ;  and  seeing  also,  that  the  doctrine 
and  discipline  of  the  church  of  England,  when  sincerely 
taught,  and  wisely  administered,  have  never  yet  failed 
to  gain  numerous  converts,  and  to  preserve  them  with- 
in her  spiritual  fold. 

With  respect  to  the  hurdem  under  which  the  Bri- 
tish nation,  at  present,  staggers,  and  reels  to  and  fro 
like  a  drunkard,  the  question  is  not  now,  if  those 
burdens  be  necessary  ;  if  they  be  the  unavoidable  ])rice 
l)aid  for  having  delivered  England,  Europe,  the  uni- 
versal world,  both  civilized  and  savage,  from  the 
most  horrible  and  ignominious  of  all  human  des})otisms  ? 
liut  the  imperative  question  is,  if  the  rulers  of  Britain 
be  not  bound  to  endeavour  to  conciHate  the  affections 
of  all  the  British  population  ;  from  whom  they  annu- 
ally take  full  one-t/iird  of  their  whole  income,  one- 
third  of  the  proceeds  of  the  productive  industry  and 
talent  of  the  whole  nation  ? 

And  then  follows  another  question  ;  is  this  desirable 
object  to  be  attained,  by  keeping  at  least  one-third 
of  the   whole  British  population  in  a  state  of  continual 


396  BRITISH  BURDENS. 

exasperation,  under  a  system  of  religions  disabilities, 
and  political  proscription  ;  while  the  best  feelings 
and  affections  of  the  remaining  two- thirds  are  inces- 
santly outraged  by  having  a  formal  state  hierarchy, 
and  a  formal  state  clergy,  fastened  upon  them  by  the 
studied,  systematic  misdirection  of  the  national  church 
patronage  ? 

That  the  financial  pressure  of  the  British  empire 
is  felt  by  her  governing  statesmen,  is  evident,  from 
an  observation  dropped  by  the  earl  of  Liverpool,  in 
tlie  house  of  Lords,  when  lord  Holland  pressed  the 
administration  to  require  satisfaction  from  the  Ame- 
rican government,  on  account  of  general  Jackson's 
having  put  to  death  Ambrister  and  Arbuthnot,  two 
British  subjects.  Lord  Liveqiool  replied,  that  it 
was  easy  for  gentlemen  in  the  opposition  to  clamour  for 
redress ;  but  suppose  the  republicans  refused  to  listen 
to  the  requisition  of  Great  Britain,  were  the  gentle- 
men of  the  opposition  prepared  with  the  funds  neces- 
sary to  carry  on  a  new  war  ?  for  if  they  were,  his 
majesty  s  ministers  were  not. 

It  seems  strange,  that  the  premier  of  a  mighty 
empire,  and  a  disciple  of  William  Pitt,  should  have 
made  such  an  open  avowal  of  veritable  weakness. 
Certain  is  it,  that  such  puling  shrieks  of  feeble  lament- 
ation would  not  have  issued  from  the  lips  of  the  great 
Chtttham,  or  his  greater  son. 

Many  respectable  jurists  in  these  United  States  ex- 
pressed their  opinion,  that  general  Jackson's  conduct 
was  a  violation  of  international  law  ;  and  the  senate 
of  the  United  States  also,  by  a  committee,  reported 
strongly  against  his  acts.  But  when  lord  Liverpool's 
speech  reached  this  country,  the  National  Intelli- 
gencer, the  government  paper  at  Washington,  re- 
published it,  without  one  woid  of  comment,  and 
every  mouth  was  hushed  in  relation  to  general  Jack- 
son ;  but  the  American  people,  generally,  were  much 
elated  at  what  they  deemed  the  fearful  reluctance  of 
Britain  to  engage  in  another  conflict  with  this  federa- 
tive rej)ublic. 


AMKRICAN    FEELINGS.  397 

It  inight  bo  as  well  to  notice,  in  passing,  an  idle  opi- 
nion entertained  in  Downing-street,  that  a  considera- 
ble quantity  of  Britiak  feeling  still  exists  among  the 
people  of  the  United  States.  Now  nothing  can  be 
more  vain,  than  to  expect  any  European  attachments 
from  those  who  are  born  upon  this  immense  continent. 
The  chief  objects  of  every  native  American,  after 
betterins^  his  own  condition,  are  to  as-yrandize  his 
country  ;  to  drive  all  Europeans  out  of  this  western 
world  ;  to  federate  the  two  Americas,  north  and  south, 
makintr  the  United  States  the  head  and  soul  of  the 
great  general  confederation  ;  and,  eventually,  to  dictate 
the  law  to  Europe,  and  to  the  world. 

Doubtless,  there  is  immense  wealth  in  Britain;  but 
it  is  confined  to  comparativclij  few  hands  ;  the  monied 
and  thc^  landed  aristocracy,  who  labour  incessantly,  by 
the  system  of  entails  and  strict  settlements,  to  prevent 
the  general  diffusion  of  property  throughout  the  nation. 
Hence  the  great  mass  of  the  people  are  sunk  in  penury, 
and  consigned  to  a  continual  struggle  for  a  scanty  sub- 
sistence. 

There  is  also  an  abundance  of  wealth  in  these 
United  States  ;  but  it  is  more  equally  divided.  The 
occupiers  of  the  land  are  generally ./rc^^holdeis  of  the 
soil  they  cultivate;  and  not  mere  renting  farmers 
as  in  England,  where  tithe-tax  and  rent  keep  the 
agriculturists  always  in  straits.  The  capitals,  gene- 
rally, are  moderate,  and  widely  diffused.  Few  of  the 
native  Americans  are  very  poor ;  and  such  is  the 
demand  for  labour,  both  of  the  hand  and  of  the  head, 
that  every  industrious  person,  in  any  vocation,  can 
command  a  full  share  of  tiie  necessaries  and  comforts 
of  life. 

In  February,  in  1822,  the  earl  of  Liverpool  said, 
in  the  house  of  Lords,  that  the  whole  national  income 
of  Britain  amounts  to  two  hundred  and  eighteen 
millions  sterling.  Of  this,  the  state,  the  church,  and 
the  poor,  annually  consume  at  least  one-third;  leav- 
ing only  two  thirds  to  maintain  the  population,  and 
carry  onward  the  productive   industry   of  the  empire. 


398  NO    CARRIAGE    HORSES. 

The  consequence  is,  that  all  the  people  are  put  upon 
short  allowance.  Even  the  great  personages,  men 
possessing  incomes  of  from  live  to  fifty  thousand 
pounds  sterling  a  year,  have  voted  it  to  be  unfashion- 
able to  keep  carriage  horses ;  by  which  manoeuvre 
they  escape  not  merely  the  expense  of  supporting 
those  animals,  together  with  their  due  accompani- 
ment of  coachmen  and  grooms,  but  also  the  burden 
of  taxation,  which  is  peculiarly  heavy  upon  all  these 
articles. 

This  fact  is,  in  itself,  a  conclusive  proof  of  the 
nniversal  pressure  in  England.  Some  few  years  since, 
it  would  have  been  thought  an  exceeding  meanness 
in  the  English  nobility  and  gentry  not  to  keep  their 
own  carriage  horses  ;  as  much  for  show  and  splendour, 
as  for  convenience.  But  the  enormous  public  debt, 
and  the  all  pervading  taxation,  compel  every  order 
of  society  in  England  to  economise.  It  is,  however, 
xvant  of  patriotism  in  the  overgrown  aristocracy  thus 
to  shrink  from  their  proportion  of  the  national  bur- 
dens ;  which,  in  consequence,  fall  with  accumulated 
weight  upon  the  lower  classes,  who  are  less  able  to  bear 
them. 

Tlio  r/.^7^?C7///7^/Y// distress  of  England  is  too  notorious 
to  the  whole  world,  to  reqidre  a  detail  of  particulars 
respecting  it.  But  I  must  be  permitted  to  dwell,  for 
a  moment,  upon  the  situation  of  my  own  native  county, 
whose  localities  and  recollections  must  ever  be  dear 
to  my  heart.  In  the  year  1821,  INIr.  Eylott  gave  in 
evidence,  before  the  committee  of  the  house  of  Com- 
mons, that  he  knert\  within  the  seven  preceding  years, 
^fifty  farmers  renting  altogether  twenty-ibur  thousand 
acres  of  land,  in  the  little  county  of  Dorset  alone,  re- 
duced from  competence  to  penury ;  some  being  day- 
labourers,  others  in  the  workhouse,  and  others  in  gaol 
for  debt.  The  report  of  that  committee  shows  the 
agricultural  distress  to  be  general  throughout  the  whole 
kingdom. 

In   the  great  debate   upon  this    subject   in  the  im- 
perial parliament,   in    February   18522,  various  schemes 


AGllICULTURAL    DISTRESS.  899 

were  proposed  to  alleviate  the  distress,  and  imidi  talk 
was  made  about  over-production,  modifying  the  corn 
laws,  and  lending  the  ("iirniers  money  on  good  security. 
But  the  only  means  of  diminishing  the  universal  pres- 
sure upon  England,  is  to  lessen  the  tax,  tithe,  and 
rent,  which  are  crushing  the  whole  population  to  the 
earth  beneath  their  combined  weight. 

There  is  a  small  sophism  running  its  round  through 
a  certain  class  of  politicians  in  England,  namely  : 
that  the  amount  of  the  public  debt  unpaid,  about  four 
thousand  millions  of  dollars,  is  nothing,  because  it  is 
due  in  Britahi,  to  British,  and  not  to  foreign  stock- 
holders. But  in  consequence  of  this  immense  debt, 
one-third  of  the  whole  national  income  is  swallowed 
up  in  annual  taxation  ;  and  is  it  no  difference  to  a 
man,  whether  he  himself  spends  his  own  income,  to 
acquire  which  he  has  unremittingly  toiled,  or  the 
government  expends  it  for  him?  The  main  incite- 
ment to  human  industry  is  the  hope  of  using  and 
enjoying  its  fruits  ;  not  of  seeing  them  consumed  by 
an  ex})cnsive,  and,  therefore,  an  oppressive  govern- 
ment. 

The  aristocracy  of  England,  however,  seems  to  opine 
otherwise ;  for  it  was  stated  in  the  house  of  Commons, 
last  winter,  that  an  English  carl,  then  recently  dead, 
had  left  in  iiis  will  500/.  a  year  to  his  youngest  son, 
until  the  government  should  give  him  a  larger  income. 
This  is,  indeed,  fastening  the  younger  branches  of  the 
aristocratic  families  as  burdens  upon  the  people  of 
England,  from  whose  toil  these  sinecures  are  to  be 
wrung.  Is  it  not  enough,  that  the  English  nobility 
and  gentry  enjoy  so  great  a  monopoly  of  the  bishoprics 
and  benefices  of  the  state  church?  but  that  they  must 
also  entail  their  younger  sons  as  pensioners  upon  the 
civil  list  ? 

The  wages  of  the  English  peasantry  average  be- 
tween six  and  seven  shillings  sterling  a  week ;  say, 
a  dollar  and  a  half;  equal  to  seventy-eight  dollars 
per  annum.  But  of  this  the  government,  for  itself 
and  its  state  church,   takes    one-third,   or   twenty-six 


400  EXGIJSII    TEASANTRY. 

dollars,  leaving  fifty-two  dollars  for  the  labourer's  yearly 
maintenance  ;  of  which  at  least  twelve  dollars  are  paid 
for  cottage  or  rooiii-rent,  leaving  less  than  one  dollar  a 
week  to  purchase  food,  clothing,  and  fuel,  for  himself, 
his  wife  and  children. 

Their  food  generally  consists  of  potatoes  and 
tea.  The  duty  on  tea  for  the  year  1821,  amounted 
to  thirty-five  millions  of  dollars,  which  was  adduced  in 
the  debate  on  the  agricultural  distress,  by  the  ministry, 
as  a  proof  of  the,  flourishing  state  of  the  nation;  that 
is  to  say,  old  England  is  in  a  flourishing  condition, 
because  her  grown  up  labouring  men  are  fain  to 
swallow  black  tea  for  lack  of  beer  !  Animal  food  is 
almost  entirely  out  of  the  question,  as  making  any 
part  of  the  provender  of  the  English  peasantry ; 
nay,  even  wheaten  bread  constitutes  but  a  small 
portion  of  their  aggregate  provision.  What  would 
our  American  labourers,  who  expect  animal  food  for 
breakfast,  for  dinner,  and  for  supper,  together  witli 
some  kind  of  fermented  liquor  and  coffee  twice  a 
day,  think  of  such  a  dietetic  regimen,  as  that  to 
which  the  great  body  of  the  English  population  is 
reduced  ? 

The  British  government  has,  for  some  years  past, 
virtually  acknowledged  its  inahiUty  to  employ  or  to 
support  its  home  population,  by  its  various  schemes 
and  plans  for  promoting  emigration  to  the  Canadas, 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  Botany  Bay  ;  with  what 
success  must  be  left  to  time  and  the  hour  to  deter- 
mine. 

The  game  laws  of  England  are  almost  as  great  a 
curse  upon  the  nation  as  the  poor  laws  themselves. 
They  erect  every  landed  gentleman  in  the  country 
into  a  petty  tyrant  on  his  own  domain.  If  a  farmer 
see  a  iiundred  hares,  or  pheasants,  or  partridges, 
eating  up  his  wheat  fields,  from  the  produce  of  which 
he  is  expected  to  pay  his  rent,  tithe,  and  taxes,  he 
dares  not  touch  one  of  these  vermin.  And  if  any 
poor  man  wire  a  hare,  or  knock  down  a  pheasant  or 
partridge,  not  with  a   gun,  for  it  is  imlawful  for  the 


GAME    T-AWS.  401 

English  people  to  have  any  firearms  in  the';r  posses- 
sion, he  is  fined  five  pounds,  and  put  into  gaol  for  the 
first  offence,  and  transported  to  Botany  bay  for  the 
second. 

In  jMarch  1822,  there  were  twenty  men  lodged  in 
Dorchester  gaol,  for  this  crime  of  poac/ii/ig:  I'wenty 
human  beings  incarcerated  in  one  little  county  prison, 
at  the  same  time,  for  killing  game  !  During  the 
last  winter,  it  was  stated  in  the  house  of  Commons 
by  a  member,  that  in  Bury  gaol,  in  the  county  of  Suf- 
folk, there  were  confined  several  labourers,  who  liad 
poached  in  the  open  day,  for  the  purpose  of  being 
apprehended  ;  they  deeming  it  a  less  evil  to  be  im- 
mured in  prison,  where  they  must  be  fed,  to  starving 
at  home,  for  want  of  employment,  and  the  means  of 
subsistence. 

AMiy  cannot  game  be  considered  as  private  pro- 
perty, so  long  as  it  remains  on  the  land  of  any  indi- 
vidual ;  which  would  prevent  a  multiplicity  of  dis- 
putes, and  abolish  a  code  of  feudal  oppression  ?  As 
the  case  now  stands,  the  numerous  armv  of  o;ame- 
keepers  and  poachers  continually  supply  the  Eng- 
lish markets  and  taverns  with  game,  fill  the  prisons 
with  poachers,  and  confound  the  whole  country  with 
affrays  and  bloodshed. 

England  has,  surely,  quite  enough  to  struggle  with, 
in  her  enormous  load  of  public  debt,  her  bloody  but 
inefficient  penal  code,  her  imiversal  burden  of  tax- 
ation, her  severe  pressure  of  excessive  rents,  and 
excessive  tithes,  and  her  cancerous  svstems  of  the 
game  and  poor  laws,  gnawing  into  her  very  vitals, 
without  the  additional  and  ,S'till  greater  curse  of  the 
government  persisting  to  perpetuate,  to  the  utmost 
extent  of  its  power,  the  formalism  of  the  national 
church  establishment. 

In  Ireland,  things  are  even  much  worse.  The 
great  body  of  the  people  in  that  country  are  literally 
reduced  to  nakedness  and  famine,  by  the  luiited  ef- 
forts of  the  tax  iratherer,  the  middle  man,  and  the 
tithe    proctor.      Take,    for  example,    the   situation    of 

2  D 


402  CONDITION    OF    IRELAND. 

a  single  parish  in  the  county  of  Cork  ;  ivHhoui  one 
resident  landlord,  or  magistrate,  or  curate ;  without 
one  gentleman,  protestant  or  papist ;  and  without  a 
church  ;  yet  the  inhabitants  are  compelled  to  pay 
both  tithes  and  church  rates. 

As  a  specimen  of  the  manner  in  which  the  Irish 
tithe  system  is  carried  into  execution,  it  was  mention- 
ed in  the  house  of  Lords,  in  February  1822,  that  in 
a  parish  in  Tipperary,  a  tithe  proctor  charged  a 
farmer  thii^ty  pounds,  when  the  incumbent  clergy- 
man demanded,  and  actually  received,  only  eleven 
pounds.  Lord  Liverpool,  on  this  occasion,  said,  that 
the  British  government  would  investigate  the  subject 
of  tithes  in  Ireland  ;  but  he  protested  stoutly  against 
any  attempt  to  meddle  with  the  tithe  system  in  Eng- 
land ;  as  it  was  intended  to  continue  that  benedic- 
tion for  the  benefit  of  the  English  agricultural  in- 
terest. 

In  the  house  of  Commons,  during  a  debate  on  the 
same  subject,  it  was  distinctly  admitted  by  the  admi- 
nistration, that  neither  religion  nor  politics  had  any 
share  in  the  existing  disturbances  of  Ireland.  Which 
is  true  ;  for  the  intolerable  pressure  of  the  tithes,  the 
taxes,  and  the  rents,  has  driven  the  Irish  peasantry 
into  insurrection,  as  a  less  evil,  notwithstanding  the 
perspective  of  a  contingent  gallows,  than  remaining 
quietly  at  home  to  die  a  lingering,  but  certain  death,  by 
hunger. 

With  respect  to  the  religious  disabilities,  under 
which  so  large  a  portion  of  the  British  population 
labours,  I  cannot  do  better  than  refer  to  the  splendid 
speeches  delivered  by  Mr.  Canning  in  the  house  of 
Commons,  in  the  month  of  April  1822. 

In  the  year  J  678,  Titus  Oates,  by  a  series  of  the 
most  horrible  perjury,  induced  an  English  house  of 
Commons  to  countenance  his  tale  of  a  popish  plot ; 
for  pretended  concurrence  in  which  several  persons 
were  executed,  and  among  the  rest  lord  viscount 
StaflPord,  a  popish  peer,  venerable  alike  in  integrity 
and  age.     An   act  was   also   passed   to  exclude  popish 


>rR.    CANNING       MR.    PREI-.  403 

peers,  in  future,  from  sitting  in  the  liouse  of  TiOrdsj 
where  tliey  had  regularly  sate  for  one  hnndred  and 
fifty  years  subsequent  to  the  Reformation. 

This  statute  of  the  English  parliament,  founded  in 
perjury  and  blood,  Mr.  Canning  moved  to  repeal ;  and 
thereby  restore  to  the  popish  peers  their  privilege  of 
sitting  as  hereditary  legislators  in  the  house  of  lords. 
The  university  of  Oxford,  the  great  nursing  mother  of 
the  Anglican  Church  establishment,  presented  a  peti- 
tion a^ain.st  repealing  this  iniquitous  act,  by  the  hands 
of  her  representative,  JNIr.  Peel,  the  secretary  for  the 
home  department,  and  one  of  the  cabinet  patrons  of  the 
national  church. 

Mr.  Peel  opposed  the  repeal  of  this  statute  in  a 
speech  replete  with  pitiable  sophistry,  utterly  un- 
worthy of  his  acknowledged  abilities  and  eloquence. 
Does  the  university  of  Oxford  think,  that  a  state 
church  cannot  be  supported,  unless  she  is  buttressed 
up  by  proscription  and  penalty  ?  by  statutes  stained 
with  perjury  and  murder  ?  What  is  the  «t;ow^f/,  the 
ostensible  use  of  a  national  church  establishment  ? 
is  it  not  to  make  the  people  religious  and  moral  ? 
And  is  this  done  by  inflicting  pains,  and  penalties, 
and  political  disabilities  upon  all  who  differ  from  her  in 
opinion  about  the  external  form  and  order  of  eccle- 
siastical government  and  discipline  ?  I^et  the  present 
actual  state  of  religion  in  the  established  church 
answer. 

INIr.  Canning  himself  is  a  stanch  church  establish- 
ment man,  and  throughout  his  whole  speech,  calls 
the  dissenters  by  the  invidious  appellation  of  "  sec- 
taries ;"  yet,  without  once  adverting  to  the  subject  in 
a  religious  point  of  view,  he  contends,  that  it  is  di- 
rectly opposed  to  sound  policy,  for  the  British  govern- 
n\ent  to  continue  these  political  disabilities.  For 
himself,  said  the  illustrious  orator,  he  felt  little  comfort, 
tliat,  on  approaching  the  table,  he  was  obliged  to  take 
such  oaths,  as  not  only  did  not  qualify  him  the  better  to 
become  a  legislator,  but  taught  him  to  feel  he  was 
giving  pain  to  millions  of  his  fellow-subjects. 

2  D  2 


404  RELIGIOUS    DISABILITIES. 

As  little  comfort  did  he  feel,  when  discussing  with 
papists  the  duties  they  owed,  and  the  love  they 
bore  tlie  British  constitution,  that  the  talisman  of  its 
heauty  was  held  to  be  their  exclusion  ;  and  the 
splendour  of  all  its  charms,  that  they  were  7iot  allowed 
the  participation  of  its  blessings.  It  was  too  much  to 
expect  of  any  loyalty,  that  dep7^ession  and  exclusion 
sliould  make  it  more  alive  to  the  condition  of  a  state, 
in  which  it  gained  its  votaries  and  practitioners  7io 
corresponding  reward.  It  was  not  to  be  expected, 
that  you  should  eye  a  mine  without  a  wish  for  gold ; 
that  you  should  exercise  an  extraordinary  forbear- 
ance in  the  midst  of  oppression  ;  that  you  should  re- 
joice in  a  constitution,  which  de7iied  you  its  advan- 
tages ;  that  you  should  expend  your  blood  and  treasure 
in  support  of  a  system  in  which  you  had  7io  participa- 
tion. It  was  7iot  to  be  hoped,  that  the  superfluity  of 
enthusiasm  and  loyalty  would  be  expended  in  support 
of  that  from  which  they  wpre  excluded.  Mr. 
Canning's  bill  having  passed  the  Commons,  was  7T  ■ 
jected  by  a  majority  of  forty-two,  in  the  house  of  Lords. 
Proh  piidor! 

The  reasoning  of  Mr.  Canning,  so  far  as  the  test 
act  reaches,  applies  equally  to  the  protestant  dis- 
senters of  Kngland,  as  to  the  papists  of  Ireland ; 
making  together,  at  least,  one-third  of  the  British 
population,  which  is  excluded  from  office,  civil  and 
military,  in  order  to  secure  an  odious  monopoly  to 
that  very  established  church,  which  they  are  compelled 
to  contribute  towards  supporting,  at  the  very  time 
that  it  excludes  them  from  all  office.  It  is  quite  na- 
tural for  a  secular  government  to  consider  a  national 
church  establishment  as  a  mere  political  machine, 
to  be  directed  in  entire  subservience  to  state  pur- 
poses. 

But  then,  what  becomes  of  the  position,  that  a  church 
establishment  is  necessary  to  promote  piety,  and  pre- 
vent heathenism  in  a  nation  ? 

Taking  it,  however,  as  a  mere  political  machine, 
an  important  question  arises;  if  it  he  woiih  so  large 


STATE    CHURCH    INEFFECTUAL,  4-05 

an  annual  price  of  money,  and  intolerance,  anil  persecu- 
tion, and  irreligion  ? 

Omitting  all  considerations,  drawn  from  tlieir  own 
personal  religion,  or  from  any  particular  views  of 
theology,  which  they  may  entertain,  and  putting  the 
matter  simply  on  the  ground  of  human  policy,  it  is  in- 
cumbent on  the  rulers  of  Britain  to  pause  awhile,  ere 
they  finally  determine  to  persist  in  exasperating  one- 
third  of  the  entire  liome  population,  by  continuing 
their  present  system  of  religious  disabilities,  and  po 
litical  proscription ;  and  to  persist  also,  in  alienat- 
ing the  affections  of  the  rest  of  the  people,  by  la- 
bouring incessantly  to  render  the  ivhole  of  the  esta- 
blished church  of  England,  formal,  secular,  and  irre- 
ligious. 

If  the  tide  of  popular  opinion  be  once  borne  in  a 
general  current  against  the  English  government, 
that  government  cannot  stand.  The  national  bur- 
dens imposed  upon  the  people  of  England  are  suffi- 
ciently heavy  to  render  them  impatient,  if  the  conduct 
of  their  rulers  shakes  the  confidence  of  the  nation 
in  the  sincerity  and  wisdom  of  their  measures.  Every 
very  expensive  government  is,  unavoidably,  and  of  ne- 
cessity, an  oppressive  government;  because  it  conti- 
nually trenches  upon  the  comforts  and  conveniences, 
nay,  the  very  subsistence  of  the  people.  Which  is  em- 
phatically the  case  of  Britain  now  ;  and  therefore  de- 
mands from  her  rulers,  measures  that  may  conciliate  and 
soothe,  not  exasperate  and  alienate,  an  opi)ressed  and 
staggering  population. 

it  is  high  time  for  the  British  government  to  learn, 
what  the  British  people  pretty  generally  know,  that 
their  state  church  is  not  only  not  calculated  to  pro- 
mote the  cause  of  pure  religion,  but  that  it  does  not 
even  serve  the  inferior  purpose  of  preserving  a  specu- 
lative orthodoxy.  For,  from  the  time  of  Laud's  apos- 
tacy  to  the  present  hour,  the  great  body  of  the  esta- 
blished clergy  have  not  held  the  doctrines  of  their 
church  articles,  whether  construed  in  a  Calvinistic, 
or    an    Arminian   sense.       Indeed,     the    Peterborough 


406  FOKMAL    AXU    PEllSECUTING  — 

questions,  issued  by  an  English  bishop,  professedly  lay 
the  axe  to  the  root  of  all  evangelism,  whether  Arniinian 
or  Calvinistic. 

The  great  body  of  the  English  state  clergy  have,  for 
ages,  taught  only  a  diluted,  nominal  Chris/tianity ; 
whence,  as  Mr.  Wilberforce  truly  observes,  in  his  in- 
valuable book,  "  that  unseemly  discordance,  which  has 
too  much  prevailed  between  the  prayers  which  precede, 
and  the  sermon  which  follows." 

Tlie  great,  the  inherent  evil  of  a  church  establish- 
ment is,  that  it  engenders  and  perpetuates  formalism. 
In  w?zestablished  churches,  formalism  merely  de- 
pletes and  diminishes  the  sect,  which  can  only  be  re- 
vived by  its  recurrence  to  evangelical  preaching.  But 
the  civil  government  upholds  a  formal  state  churcli,  as  a 
mere  political  machine,  when  its  religion  is  extinct, 
until  both  church  and  state  are  overwlielmed  in  one 
common  ruin. 

The  evangelism  in  the  church  of  England,  which 
has  been  the  mean,  under  Providence,  of  hitherto  pre- 
serving that  church  from  perdition,  is  7U)t  owing  to  the 
establishment,  whose  rulers,  both  civil  and  spiritual, 
are  incessantly  labouring  to  crush  it  out  of  exist- 
ence. The  British  government  systematically  abs- 
tains from  making  evangelical  bishops ;  and  formal 
bishops  invariably  discountenance  and  persecute  evan- 
gelical clerks.  Whcd  proportion  do  the  evangelical 
bear  to  the  whole  clergy  in  the  Anglican  establishment 
at  this  time?  In  all  probability,  not  two  to  eleven 
thousand ;  not  so  many,  positively,  as  were  ejected  by 
Sheldon  on  the  Bartholomew  day ;  and,  relatively, 
much  fewer,  because  then  the  population  of  England 
and  Wales  did  not  reach  four,  whereas  now  it  exceeds 
tvi'elve  millions. 

The  increase  of  evangelical  clergy  in  the  Anglican 
establishment  is  studiously  stopped,  both  by  the  civil 
government  and  the  hierarchy  directing  their  pa- 
tronage into  a  formal  channel ;  and  denouncing  all 
evangelism  as  hostile  to  church  and  state.  Whence  a 
continual    augmentation    of   dissenters,    to   the    mani- 


AND  WEAKENS  GOVERNMENT.       40? 

fest  terror  of  established  formalists.  The  diffusion 
of  education,  and  the  distribution  of  the  Scriptures  in 
England,  have  created  an  increased  appetite,  both 
for  knowledge  and  religion,  among  the  lower  orders 
of  the  people ;  and  neither  of  these  desires  can  be 
answered  or  satisfied  by  the  general  formalism  of 
the  national  church  establishment;  whence  they 
must  tend  to  swell  the  ranks  of  infidelity,  where  the 
thirst  for  knowledge  is  unsanctified  by  religion,  or, 
of  dissent,  where  it  is  accompanied  vyith  serious- 
ness. Both  of  which  events  are  unfavourable  to 
the  extent  and  duration  of  the  dominion  of  the  esta- 
blishment. 

If  the  labours  of  Wesley  and  Whitfield,  and  their 
associates  and  followers,  and  at  a  more  recent  pe- 
riod, tlie  pen  of  Mr.  Wilberforce,  have  been  honour- 
ed instruments  in  the  hand  of  God,  to  produce  re- 
vivals of  religion  in  the  church  of  England,  these 
revivals  are  not  owing  to  the  establishment,  which, 
as  a  state  church,  regularly  discourages  and  proscribes 
them,  from  the  highest  hierarch  down  to  the  lowest 
formal  stipendiary  curate.  And,  at  this  moment,  to 
how  many  of  the  higher  and  middling  classes  of  English 
churchmen  do  not  Mr.  Wilberforces  observations  apply 
with  undiminished  force  and  truth? 

The  fair  and  natural  inference  from  all  this  is,  that 
the  Anglican  Church  has  less  religion,  and  less  influ- 
ence, in  consequence  of  being  a  state  church,  and  there- 
fore secularized  and  formal,  than  she  would  have,  if  left 
to  herself,  to  thrive  only  by  her  own  evangelism,  instead 
of  being  encumbered  by  the  help  of  the  civil  govern- 
ment and  lay  patronage. 

At  all  events,  it  is  most  obvious,  that  the  esta- 
blished cliurch  of  England  as  at  present  constructed 
and  guided,  very  materially  diminishes  the  moral  and 
disi)osa))le  strength  of  the  British  empire  ;  by  conti- 
nually exasperating,  because  it  politically  proscribes, 
a  large  portion  of  the  talent,  wealth,  industry,  and 
influence  of  the  nation  ;  by  grieving  and  dishearten- 
ing the  comparativeljj  few  seriou.s  persons  within  the 


408  EVANGELISM    INCllEASING. 

pule  of  her  commuiiioii,  in  consequence  of  devoting  her 
enormous  patronage  to  the  service  of  formalism ;  and  by 
offering  a  perpetual  bounty  for  the  general  irreligion 
and  profligacy  of  the  remainder  of  the  home  population 
of  England. 

I  have  not  forgotten  the  auspicious  increase  of 
evangelism  in  Britain,  during  the  last  five  and  twenty 
years ;  but  hail  it  as  the  surest  pledge  of  Jehovah's 
blessing  on  her;  and  that  He  will  preserve  and  prosper 
her  as  a  nation,  and  make  her  an  instrument  in  his 
hands,  to  diffuse  the  light  of  everlasting  truth  to  the 
remotest  recesses  of  the  habitable  earth.  Most  cor- 
dially do  I  participate  in  the  feelings  of  the  apostolic 
William  Ward,  upon  this  subject,  as  expressed  in  his 
Farewell  l^etters. 

After  an  absence,  says  this  truly  evangelical  mis- 
sionary, of  twenty  years  from  England,  it  was  to  be 
expected,  that  the  great  moral  changes  of  so  consider- 
able and  so  remarkable  a  period;  the  successful  at- 
tempts to  revive  the  unity  and  energies  of  tlie  primitive 
age,  and  the  formation  of  so  many  benevolent  institu- 
tions ;  would  produce  a  very  strong  and  delightful  im- 
pression on  the  mind  of  such  an  exile.  I  recollect,  that 
as  soon  as  I  set  my  feet  on  board  the  Criterion,  in  1799, 
on  my  way  to  India,  to  join  INIr.  Carey  and  Mr. 
Thomas,  residing  there  since  1793,  I  lay  down  on  a 
seat  upon  the  deck  to  read  the  voyage  of  the  Duff,  then 
recently  published. 

The  Bible  Society,  with  its  auxiliaries,  and  still 
more  interesting  associations ;  and  numerous  other 
institutions,  which  have  entitled  the  age  in  which  we 
live,  to  be  denominated  the  suttee  joog,  the  age  of 
truth  ;  did  not  at  that  time  exist.  It  was  impossible 
then  not  to  exult  in  observing,  on  my  return,  the  pro- 
gress of  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  in  a  country  endeared 
by  every  youthful  recollection,  and  rendered  still 
dearer  by  absence,  so  long  an  absence ;  and  by  the 
painful  contrast  between  the  land  of  Bibles,  of  Chris- 
tian temples,  Christian  ministers,  and  Christian  insti- 
tutions, and  a  land  full  of  dead  idols,  heathen  tern- 


RUT    NOT    OWrXC;    TO    STATE    CHUllCII,        409 

|)lcs,  priests,  abominable  idolatries,  and  coiitaiiiiiig  one 
Inindrcd  viilUons  of  idolaters. 

When  I  left  England,  the  pccnliar  doctrines  of  the 
Gos])el  had  not  been  preached,  I  believe,  in  the  jive 
cstabUshcd  churches  at  Derby  since  the  time  of  the  pu- 
ritans. I  was  happy,  however,  to  find,  on  visiting  this 
my  native  place,  in  1819,  that  two  of  these  churches 
liad  recently  been  blessed  with  clergymen  who  followed 
the  apostolic  rule.      1  Cor.  ii.  2. 

To  find,  on  my  return,  in  the  estahlishvient,  so  many 
labourers,  doing  the  work  of  evangelists,  and  a  mis- 
sionary society,  increasing  daily  the  extent  and  the 
sacred  energy  of  its  operations;  to  perceive  the  great 
increase  of  du'senting  and  Wesleyan  metliodist  cha- 
pels, and  the  vast  additions  to  their  societies ;  to 
see  the  pious  members  of  Christian  churches  visiting 
tlie  benighted  villages,  and  thus  dispersing  the  last 
remains  of  heathen  darkness  in  England ;  to  see 
rising  in  every  part  of  the  country  institutions  well 
suited  to  remove  ignorance,  profligacy,  and  misery, 
the  whole  of  the  pious  youth  in  Britain,  engaging  in 
these  truly  Christian  efforts  ;  and  to  recognize,  amidst 
all  this  increasing  ardour,  so  much  Christian  liberality 
and  union ;  how  could  such  an  exile,  surrounded 
with  summer  scenery  like  this,  help  exclaiming, — 
is  this  the  country  of  my  nativity  ?  Thou  shalt  no 
more  be  termed  forsaken ;  neither  shall  thy  land  any 
more  be  termed  desolate;  but  thou  shalt  be  called 
Hephzibah,  and  thy  land  Beulah  :  for  the  Lord  de- 
lighteth  in  thee. 

But  these  inestimable  blessings  are  not  owing  to 
the  national  church  establishment  of  England ;  for 
that  establishment,  with  an  immense  majority  of  its 
bishops,  priests  and  deacons,  have  uniformly  oppos- 
ed all  these  efforts,  whether  directed  to  evangelize 
Britain  herself,  or  the  other  nations  of  the  earth. 
That  established  state  church  has  invariably  dis- 
countenanced the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society, 
and  the  Church  Missionary  Society  ;  to  say  nothing  of 


410  WHICH    TERSECUTRS    EVANGELISM. 

its  inveterate  hostility  to  all  dissenting  and  methodist 
efforts  in  tlie  cause  of  evangelical  truth. 

Hence  the  fact,  so  degrading  to  the  character  of 
the  established  church  of  England,  that  she  has  done 
infinitely  less  towards  evangelizing  the  heathen, 
whether  at  home  or  abroad,  in  Britain  or  elsewhere, 
than  has  been  done  by  the  Moravians,  the  baptists, 
the  methodists,  the  independents,  and  the  presby- 
terians. 

As  a  specimen  of  the  light  in  which  the  English 
established  clergy  generally  regard  evangelism,  take 
the  lucubrations  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Polwhele,  vicar  of 
Manaccan  and  St.  Anthony,  in  Cornwall,  and  a  prin- 
cipal writer  in  the  Antijacobin  Review  ;  a  journal  in- 
stituted and  continued  for  the  express  purpose  of  up- 
holding and  strengthening  the  united  interests  of  the 
Anglican  church  and  state. 

In  the  year  1820,  Mr.  Polwhele  put  forth  a  new 
edition  of  bishop  Lavington's  "  Enthusiasm  of  me- 
thodists and  papists  compared,"  with  his  own  intro- 
duction, notes,  and  appendix,  in  which  this  henejiced 
clergyman  has  raked  together  a  loathsome  mass  of 
ribaldry,  that  would  disgrace  a  brothel ;  and  belched 
forth  a  volume  of  blasphemy,  that  would  raise  a  blush 
on  the  check  even  of  Hone  or  Carlile.  Yet  this 
chaste,  this  prudish  vicar,  is  a  stout  champion  of  the 
English  church  establishment;  and  shews  spasms  of 
horror  at  the  alarming  progress  of  schis7n,  in  these  days 
of  degeneracy  and  darkness  ! 

Of  course,  he  hates  the  Wesleyan  methodists,  with 
a  perfect  hatred,  because  they,  generally,  as  a  body, 
from  the  time  of  their  great  founder  to  the  present 
hour,  have  evidenced  an  evangelical  faith  and  a  holy 
life ;  nor  is  he  less  rancorous  against  the  orthodox 
dissenters,  for  whose  benefit  he  intimates  that  he  could 
mend  the  toleration  act,  after  the  fashion  of  lord 
Sidmouth's  model.  But  he  dips  his  pen  in  the  doubly 
distilled  venom  of  the  damned,  when  he  raves  against 
tlie  evangelical  clergy  in  the  national  church  establish- 
ment. 


KEY.    MR.    POLWHELE.  411 

"Our  own  Gospel  preachers,"  says  he,  "are  really 
greater  enemies  to  the  church,  than  the  most  malign 
opposers  of  her."  He  constantly  reviles  them  as 
"  gospellers ;"  and  declaiips  loudly  against  those  very 
few  colleges,  in  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  "  that  pay  par- 
ticular attention  to  the  education  of  Gospel  ministers." 
He  solemnly  warns  tlie  heads  of  the  universities  them- 
selves, "  to  walch  over  them,  and  check  the  slightest 
tendency  in  their  youth  to  evangelical  irregularities." 
No  caution  is  given  against  7^/ievangelical  irregulari- 
ties; Mr.  Polwhele,  doubtless,  coinciding  in  opinion 
with  those  reverend  gentlemen,  who  expelled  Erasmus 
Middleton  and  his  associates  in  the  year  17^8,  while 
they  acquitted  Mr.  Welling  ;  that  blasphemy,  and 
bawdry,  and  drunkenness,  are  better  pillars  of  support 
to  the  university  of  Oxford,  and  the  established  church 
of  P^ngland,  than  praying,  and  singing  hymns,  and  ex- 
pounding the  word  of  God  ! 

The  evangelical  clergy,  in  the  Anglican  church,  who 
are  labouring  for  the  conversion  of  the  Jews,  he  calls 
"  Judaising  gospellers ;"  and  those  who  are  zealously 
employed  in  promoting  the  conversion  of  the  pagans, 
he  calls  "  Gentile  gospellers ;"  and  both  parties  ap- 
pear to  be  equally  offensive  to  this  beneficed  clerk, 
and  sworn  champion  of  the  established  church  of  Eng- 
land. 

Contributions  to  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society,  and  its  auxiliary  institutions,  he  places  upon 
the  same  level  with  theft,  and  robbery,  and  rebellion, 
and  murder  ;  denouncing  with  equal  virulence,  Hunfs 
female  reformers,  and  those  w^omen  who  collect 
money  for  the  su]iport  of  Bible  associations.  He 
predicts  the  most  alarming  amount  of  moral  turpitude, 
and  of  civil  convulsion,  from  the  circulation  of  the 
Scriptures  among  the  poor.  The  education  of  the  poor 
also,  is  stigmatized  as  a  nefarious  business.  Bell's 
national  schools  he  cannot  tolerate ;  and,  with  regard 
to  Lancaster's  institutions,  he  docs  not  entertain  "  the 
slightest  doubt,  that  their  grand  object  is  to  purilanize 
and  revolutionize  the  country. 


412  Mil.    WILKS'S    rOSITION    DOUBTED. 

As  a  consistent  advocate  for  English  liberty,  Mr. 
Polwhelc  lauds  to  the  skies  the  arbitrary  conduct  of 
that  brutal  tyrant,  Henry  the  eighth.  As  a  conscien- 
tious clergyman  of  a  protestnnt  established  church,  Mr. 
Polwhele  proposes,  as  a  pattern  for  all  future  imitation, 
the  execrable,  malignant,  popish,  persecuting  Laud. 
Mr.  Polwhele,  also,  has  discovered  the  deadly  peril  of 
preaching ;  for,  quoth  he,  "it  was  a  remarkable  saying, 
founded  on  the  reason  of  things,  that  a  preaching  church 
cannot  stand." 

Such  is  the  support  whicli  evangelism  receives 
from  the  great  body  of  the  clergy  of  the  Anglican 
church  establishment;  whether  that  evangelism  be 
exhibited  in  preaching  the  Gospel  at  home,  or  in 
sending  missionaries  abroad,  to  proclaim  the  glad 
tidings  of  everlastino;  life  to  the  unnumbered  millions 
of  perishing  heathens ;  or,  in  distributing  the  pure 
word  of  God,  without  note  or  comment,  over  all  the 
reciions  of  a  world  that  lieth  in  wickedness,  and  is 
bursting  in  sin  and  sorrow  ;  or  in  any  other  way  by 
which  the  limits  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom  may  be 
extended. 

Verily,  these  formal,  high,  exclusive  churchmen 
are  peculiarly  qualified  to  be  the  firm  pillars  of  a 
reeling  community,  and  to  win  the  hearts  of  all  the 
English  people,  as  the  heart  of  one  man,  to  the 
church,  as  by  law  established,  and  to  the  civil  go- 
vernment of  Britain,  which  upholds  that  ecclesias- 
tical establishment,  which  countenances  and  elevates 
such  clerks  ! 

Is  Mr.  Polwhele,  in  due  time,  to  be  done  into  a 
bishop  by  tlie  British  government,  for  his  services  to 
tlie  cause  of  Christianity,  and  to  take  his  seat  on  the 
episcopal  bench,  alongside  the  mitred  Tomline, 
IMarsh,  and  Mant,  the  three  chief  established  advo- 
cates of  the  pernicious  popisli  doctrines  of  baptismal 
regeneration,  double  justification,  and  the  merit  of 
works  ? 

In  fine,  notwithstanding  the  talent,   tlie  ingenuity, 
and  the  learning,  which  Mr.   Wilks  has  displayed  in 


ANTICIPATION    OF  413 

ciulcavoiiriiig  to  support  the  main  position  taken  in 
his  valuable  work,  namely,  that  a  national  church 
establishment  is  necessary,  in  order  to  promote  piety, 
and  prevent  heathenism  in  a  country,  we  conclude, 
that  the  converse  of  this  proposition  is  more  consonant 
with  truth  and  justice,  and  the  universal  experience 
both  of  the  Christian  church  and  of  the  world  at 
large. 

Much  ground  yet  remains  to  traverse  ;  but  the  li- 
mits of  the  present  volume  are  waning  to  their  close. 
Hereafter,  if  permitted  by  health,  which  has  been 
interrupted  by  an  indisposition,  that,  for  more  than 
twelve  months  past,  has  almost  taken  away  the  power 
of  locomotion,  and  confined  the  writer,  like  an  oys- 
ter, to  a  single  spot,  it  is  intended  to  glance  at  the 
general  conduct  of  the  English  state  clergy,  from  the 
latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Charles  the  second,  to  the 
present  time ;  in  which  will  be  particularly  consi- 
dered the  causes  and  the  consequences  of  those  ixvivals 
of  religion,  which,  originating  in  the  instrumentality 
of  Whitfield  and  the  Wesley s,  have,  at  intervals,  been 
occurring  ever  since,  and  have  invariably  received 
the  deadliest  opposition  from  a  very  large  majority  of 
the  established  church  of  England,  including  its 
civil  governors,  its  hierarchs,  and  its  clergy  ge- 
nerally. 

The  importance  and  the  effect  of  church  order  will 
be  noticed,  the  Socinian  heresy  exposed,  and  the 
Calvinistic  and  Arminian  controversies,  so  far,  at  least, 
as  relates  to  the  Anglican  and  American- Anglo- 
Churches,  examined ;  in  which  inquiry  Dr.  Herbert 
INIarsh's  eighty-seven  Peterborough  questions  will  not 
be  forgotten. 

An  extended  inquiry  will  likewise  be  made  into 
the  origin  and  progress  of  that  formalism  which  so 
much  stains  and  debilitates  the  different  Christian 
churches;  together  with  some  observations  on  a  few 
of  the  principal  tenets  of  the  present,  prevailing, 
fashionable,  formal  theology ;  for  example,  that  there 
is  no  invisible  church  of  Christ ;  nothing  but  a  visi- 


414  FIITITIJE    I.ABOUUS. 

ble,  external  clmrcli ;  and  no  clnircli  visible,  except 
their  own  ;  that  prcacliing  the  Gospel  makes  no  part 
of  the  public  worship  of  Almighty  God  in  a  Chris- 
tian assembly ;  that  all  private  meetings  for  prayer 
and  Christian  conference,  are  irregular,  fanatical, 
and  dangerous;  that  the  distribution  of  the  sacred 
Scriptures  alone,  without  what  Bishop  Marsh  calls 
the  due  "  corrective  of  the  evil,''  is  perilous,  and  not  to 
be  permitted;  that  sending  missionaries  to  evangelize 
the  heathen,  is  weak,  useless,  and  foolish,  fit  only  for 
such  enthusiasts  as  JMr.  Polwhele  politely  terms  "  Gen- 
tile gosp elicits  f  and  some  other  modern  positions  in 
divinity,  alike  alien  and  abhorrent  from  the  word  of 
God,  the  public  formularies  of  the  Anglican  and 
American-Anglo-Churches,  and  the  confessions  of  all 
the  protestant  reformed  communions. 

I  cannot,  however,  conclude  the  present  volume, 
without  noticing  the  txvo  chief  doctrines  of  our  fa- 
shionable modern  theology  ;  to  wit,  the  popish  dog- 
mas of  exclusive  churchmanghip,  and  baptismal  regene- 
ration. But  I  desire  it  to  be  distinctly  understood, 
that  I  have  no  personal  controversy  with  any  man, 
about  his  religious  creed.  My  onhj  aim  is  to  expose 
certain  prevailing  theological  opinions,  which  seem 
to  strike  at  the  root  of  all  evangelical  truth,  and  to 
destroy  every  inducement  to  a  pure,  practical,  holy 
life  and  conversation. 


CHAPTER  IV 


Exclusive  Ch  urchmansh  ip. 


I  REPEAT,  that  I  wish  to  be  distinctly  understood, 
as  not  intending  anglit  personal  or  disrespectful  to  any 
individual,  in  the  following  examination  of  the  modern 
fashionable  tlieological  opinions,  and  therefore  shall 
avoid  mentioning  names,  unless  necessary  to  clear  the 
sense.  Far  from  me,  and  from  my  friends,  be  the  sec- 
tarian narrowness  and  bigotry  of  intermeddling  with  any 
one's  private  and  peculiar  system  of  belief;  seeing,  that 
the  right  of  private  judgment,  in  matters  of  religion, 
is  of  the  very  essence  of  protestantism,  as  contradis- 
tinguished from  the  proscribing  infallibility  of  the 
popish  scheme. 

By  the  way,  the  Romanists  have  a  pleasant  mode  of 
proving  the  infallibility  of  their  church.  If  you  ask, 
is  the  pope  infallible  ?  the  answer  is,  no.  Is  a  cardi- 
nal ?  no.  An  archbishop  ?  no.  A  bishop  ?  no. 
AVhere  then  lies  the  infallibility  ?  In  a  general  council 
of  the  cluu-ch,  composed  of  tlie  bishops,  archbishops, 
cardinals,  and  pope.  So  that  a  collection  of  many  fal- 
libles  produces  one  mighty  infallibility;  in  like  manner 
as  a  number  of  noughts,  or  cyphers,  when  added  toge- 
ther make  one  great  figure  in  arithmetic. 

I><et  us  then  briefly  glance  at  some  of  the  leading 
tenets  of  modern  theology ;  for  the  present,  briefly, 
because  hereafter  it  is  intended  to  institute  a  full  in- 
quiry   into    the    doctrines    of  the    various   protestant 


416  ENGIJSH    DISSENTERS. 

reformed  cluirches ;  more  especially  those  of  the  An- 
glican Church.  And  occasion  will  thence  be  taken 
to  show  why  the  American- Anglo-Church  is  so  fear- 
fully in  the  wake  of  other  religious  denominations  ; 
and  how  the  prevalence  oi  formalism  has  kept  her 
down  in  ignorance  and  weakness  in  these  United 
States,  as  it  has  depressed  her  venerable  mother  in 
England,  where  the  different  dissenting  denomina- 
tions are  rapidly  gaining  ground  upon  her ;  so  that 
in  1822,  the  num])er  of  dissenting  ministers,  of  all 
arms,  is  about  equal  to  that  of  the  established  clergy ; 
namely,  eleven  thousand  each ;  the  church  con- 
tinually declining,  and  the  dissenters  constantly  in- 
creasing. 

How  many  dissenters,  think  you,  would  England 
now  contain,  if  her  national  clergy,  from  the  Reforma- 
tion to  the  present  hour,  had  faithfully  preached 
the  Gospel,  antl  diligently  discharged  their  pastoral 
duties,  instead  of  quenching  their  own  religion,  and 
the  relip'ion  of  tlien-  hearers,  in  the  dead  sea  of  form- 
alism,  and  lighting  up  the  fires  of  persecution  to  the 
fullest  extent  of  their  capacity  and  power,  for  the 
edification  of  all  those  who  sought,  conscientiously, 
to  worship  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  spirit  and  in 
truth  ? 

The  doctrine  of  exclusive  churchmanship ;  that  is  to 
say,  the  assumption  of  all  covenant  claim  to  the  mercy 
of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  being  confined  to  episcopalians  ; 
is  strenuously  avowed  by  many  writers,  on  both  sides 
of  the  Atlantic. 

This  exclusive  churchmanship,  in  sober  Christian 
verity,  is  a  doctrine  which  may  possibly  be  enforced 
with  the  gallows  for  its  second,  and  the  dungeon  for  its 
bottle  holder,  as  in  papal  Rome,  under  the  benignant 
auspices  of  Hildebrand,  and,  as  in  England,  under 
the  sovereignty  of  the  arbitrary  Tudors,  and  the  do- 
minion of  the  execrable  Stuarts.  But  in  these  United 
States,  whose  political  institutions  permit  to  all  persons 
free  access  totheRible;  and  where  no  one  is  punished 
hy  law  for  believing  what  God  says  in  his  own  revealed 


A    POPISH    TENET.  417 

word  ;  very  few  theologians  will  be  found  with  a  gorge 
sufficiently  capacious  to  swallow  these  dirtiest  of  all  the 
dregs  of  popery. 

Nay,  if  the  day  ever  arrive,  when  by  parish  voting 
and  parish  making,  or  by  any  other  means,  the 
general  convention  of  the  American- Anglo-Church 
shall  be  induced  to  pass  a  canon,  declaring  exclusive 
churchmanship  to  be  a  fundamental  article  of  the 
protestant  episcopalian  creed;  and  if,  after  the  ex- 
ample of  Pontius  Pilate,  such  a  canon  were  inscribed 
in  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin  ;  still  the  proof,  that 
this  doctrine  is  either  Scriptural,  or  protestant,  or 
accordant  with  the  articles,  homilies,  and  liturgy 
of  the  Anglican  Church,  would  be  as  much  wan  ting- 
as  it  is  now,  notwithstanding  the  council  of  Trent 
hath  decreed  it  to  be  a  capital  part  of  lioman  catliolic 
faith. 

If  this  doctrine  be  a  fundamental  verity,  essential  to 
true  churchmanship,  it  is  a  great  pity  that  Cranmcr, 
and  Ridley,  and  Hooper,  and  Latimer,  and  other  ve- 
uerable  fathers  of  the  English  church,  did  not  know 
the  fact  ;  for  if  they  had,  it  would  have  saved  them  the 
trouble  of  being  burned ;  seeing,  that  papal  Rome 
always  cordially  embraces  as  her  children,  those  who 
profess  belief  in  this  foundation  article  of  her  ca- 
tholic creed;  as  may  be  perceived*  by  consulting 
the  canons  enacted  by  the  memorable  Tridcntine 
council. 

If  this  tenet  be  truly  Scriptural,  those  blessed  mar- 
tyrs need  not  have  given  their  bodies  to  the  popish  fires 
in  defence  of  the  protestant  faith  ;  nor  need  they  have 
cemented  the  foundations  of  the  Anglican  Church  with 
their  own  life's  blood.  They  had  only  to  avow  their 
fiiith  in  the  popish  dogma,  that  salvation  is  exclusivelv 
confined  to  communion  within  the  narrow  pale  of  their 
own  sect,  and  they  would  have  been  found  very  fit  sup- 
porters of  that  orthodox  high  church  woman,  tlie  bloody 
JNIary. 

It  is  a  pity,  that  the  excellent  archbishop  Leigh- 
ton,   and  the   profoundly  learned   bishop  Stillingfleet, 

2  E 


418  ARGUMENTUM    AD    MODESTIAM. 

and  an  innnmerable  multitude  of  other  bright  and 
burning  lights  in  the  episcopal  hemisphere,  have' 
wanted  this  essential  mark  of  veritable  church- 
manship.  Feradventure,  Stiilingfleet  and  Leighton, 
not  now  to  mention  a  thousand  other  distinguished 
ch>ampions  of  the  Anglican  Church,  had  examined 
this  matter  as  conscientiously,  and  had  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  subject,  as  much  genuine  piety,  real 
talent,  and  sound  learning,  as  have  been  mustered 
upon  the  same  occasion',  by  any  of  the  modern 
champions  of  this  popish  plea,  and  yet  they  shrunk 
with  horror,  from  the  impious  insolence  of  nncove- 
nanting,  2mchurching  the  numberless  millions  of 
nonepiscopalians,  who  have  ever  breathed  upon 
earth. 

It  is,  indeed,  passing  strange,  that  our  neoteric  doc- 
tors, who  import  their  stock  in  trade  of  divinity  directly 
from  Rome,  should  be  better  churchmen  than  those 
who,  by  their  piety,  talent,  learning,  integrity,  life, 
and  death,  founded  and  established  the  English  pro- 
testant  church.  But  it  will  soon  appear  that  this  is 
not  the  only  bale  of  theological  merchandise  which  has 
been  imported  into  these  United  States  from  the  papal 
mart. 

The  ar^gumentuvi  ad  inodestiavi  ought  to  weigli 
somewhat  with  our  exclusive  divines.  The  number  of 
American- Anglo  clergy  do  not  exceed  three  hundred, 
nor  their  congregations  five  hundred.  Now,  it  is 
an  ample  average  to  allow  five  hundred  souls  to  each 
congregation ;  especially,  if  we  consider  the  actual 
condition  of  the  many  lay  parishes  in  the  diocese 
of  New- York.  There  are  not  then  more  than  two 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  churchmen  in  the  United 
States ;  and  these  quarter  of  a  million  of  epis- 
copalians are  the  07ily  covenant  people  of  God  out 
of  an  American  population  exceeding  ten  mil- 
lions ! !  ! 

Verily,  this  species  of  covenanting,  outcovenants 
the  covenanters  themselves,  the  sturdy  partisans  of 
the    Scottish   solemn    league   and   covenant ;    and    old 


CONDITIOM    OF    SAI-VATION.  419 

Gilfillan  and  Balfour  of  Barley  must  yield  tlie  palm  to 
Charles  Daubeny  and  Samuel  Wix,  and  their  followers 
on  this  side  of  the  water. 

The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  says :  "  He  that  believeth 
shall  be  saved."'  But  our  theologians  clog  this  gracious 
provision  of  the  Saviour,  by  annexing  the  indispensable 
condition  of  a  transit  through  Trinity  church.  Utrum 
horum? 

It  is,  indeed,  high  time  for  all  Christians  to  merge 
the7'?^r6'  divino  claims  of  the  various  religious  denomi- 
nations, whether  episcopalian,  or  presbyterian,  or  con- 
gregational, in  the  infinitely  more  important  object 
of  converting  sinners  to  God,  and  qualifying  them  for 
heaven. 

"  Where  the  Gospel  is  proclaimed — says  a  dis- 
tinguished American  divine — communion  with  the 
church  by  the  participation  of  its  ordinances,  at  tlie 
hands  of  the  duly  authorized  priesthood,  is  the  indis- 
poisahle  condition  of  salvation.  Great  is  the  guilt, 
and  imminent  the  danger,  of  those,  who,  possessing 
the  means  of  arriving  at  the  knowledge  of  the  truth, 
negligently  or  wilfully  continue  in  a  state  of  separation 
from  the  authoiHzed  ministry  of  the  church,  and  par- 
ticipate of  ordinances  administered  by  an  2/Tegular 
and  invalid  authority.  Wilfully  rending  the  peace 
and  unity  of  the  church,  by  a  separation  from  the  mi- 
nistrations of  its  authorized  priesthood ;  obstinately 
contemning  the  means,  which  God,  in  his  sovereign 
pleasure,  hath  ])rescribed  for  their  salvation,  they  are 
guilty  of  rebellion  against  their  almighty  Lawgiver 
and  Judge ;  they  expose  themselves  to  the  awful  dis- 
pleasure of  that  Almighty  Jehovah,  who  will  not  per- 
mit his  institutions  to  be  contemned,  or  his  authority 
violated  with  impunity." 

Tlie  same  doctrine  is  repeated  again  and  again, 
by  another  distinguished  divine  of  the  same  school, 
in  his  "  Vindication"  of  the  American  Anglo-Church  ; 
and  if  these  two  theologians  be  right,  that  God  has 
made  7io  covenant  with  any  people  in  the  United 
States,    except    the   two    hundred    and    fifty   thousand 

'2  V  '^ 

^       Vj       f^ 


420  UNCOVEXANTED    MERCY. 

bishops,  priests,  deacons,  and  laics,  so  thinly  scattered 
over  their  surface,  wo  betide  the  ten  millions  of  all 
the  other  American  denominations.  For  the  scheme 
of  ?/7zcovenanted  mercy,  cannot  help  the  poor  pres- 
byterians,  congregationalists,  baptists,  methodists,  oi 
any  other  nonepiscopalians ;  simply  because  no  such 
scheme  is  to  be  found  in  the  Bible,  which,  uniformly, 
represents  God,  as,  out  of  Christ,  a  consuming  fire, 
and,  in  Christ,  as  reconciling  the  world  unto  himself, 
not  imputing  to  them  their  trespasses  and  sins. 

The  doctrine  of  these  two  high  churchmen,  then,  is, 
that  all  nonepiscopalians  are  in  the  broad  road  to  per- 
dition ;  their  watchword  being  "  episcopacy  or  damna- 
tion ;"  as  if  multitudes  do  not  obtain  both  these  benefits; 
and  as  if  such  a  dogma  were  not  of  the  very  essence  o: 
popery  ! 

They,  indeed,  only  follow  in  the  foot- tracks  of  anothei 
reverend  gentlemen,  who,  some  years  since,  when  ]n-each- 
ing  an  ordination  sermon  at  St.  Paul's  churcli,  in  the 
city  of  New-York,  declared  that  all  ministers,  not 
episcopally  ordained,  are  impostors ;  their  commissions, 
forgeries ;  and  their  sacraments,  blasphemy.  The 
preacher,  probably,  did  not  know  that  bishop  Prevoost, 
then  the  New -York  diocesan,  had  been  baptized  by 
Domine  Dubois,  a  clergyman  of  the  Dutch  church  ; 
and  consequently,  according  to  this  uncovenanting 
doctrine,  was  unregeneratcd,  and  not  a  member  of  the 
church. 

In  reference  to  this  doctrine,  one  of  the  greatest 
divines  of  the  present,  or  of  any  former  age,  observes  : 
"  warrant  for  this  sweeping  sentence  of  proscription, 
from  the  word  of  God,  none  has,  or  can  be  produced. 
To  unchurch,  with  a  dash  of  the  pen,  all  the  non- 
episcopalian  denominations  under  heaven,  and  cast 
their  members  indiscriminately  into  a  condition  worse 
than  that  of  the  very  heathen,  is,  to  say  the  least  of  it, 
a  most  dreadful  excommunication  ;  and,  if  not  clearly 
enjoined  by  the  authority  of  God,  as  criminal  as  it  is 
dreadful  ? 


DODWELL    NONJUROR.  421 

"  That  all  those  glorious  churches,  which  have 
flourished  in  Geneva,  Holland,  France,  Scotland,  En- 
gland, Ireland,  since  the  Reformation ;  and  all  which 
have  spread,  and  are  spreading,  throughout  this  vast 
continent ;  that  those  heroes  of  the  truth,  who,  though 
they  bowed  not  to  the  mitre,  rescued  millions  from  the 
man  of  sin,  lighted  up  the  lamp  of  genuine  religion, 
and  left  it  burning  with  a  pure  and  steady  flame,  to 
the  generation  following ;  that  all  those  faithful  minis- 
ters, and  all  those  private  Christians,  who,  though  not 
of  the  hierarchy,  adorned  the  doctrine  of  God,  their 
Saviour,  living  in  faith,  dying  in  faith,  scores,  hun- 
dreds, thousands  of  them,  going  away  to  their  Father's 
house,  under  the  strong  consolations  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
with  anticipated  heaven  in  their  hearts,  and  its  hallelu- 
jahs on  their  lips  ;  that  all,  all  were  without  the  pale  of 
the  visible  church,  were  destitute  of  covenanted  grace, 
and  left  the  world,  without  any  chance  for  eternal  life, 
but  that  unpledged,  unpromised  mercy,  which  their 
accusers  charitably  hope,  may  be  extended  to  such  as 
labour  under  involuntary,  or  unavoidable  error,  and 
this  merely  because  they  renounced  episcopacy  ;  are 
positions  of  such  deep-toned  horror,  as  may  well  make 
our  hair  stand  up  like  quills  upon  the  fretful  porcupine, 
and  freeze  the  warm  blood  at  its  fountain." 

This  sentence  has  been  pronounced  upon  millions  of 
the  dead  and  the  living,  merely  because  they  were  not, 
or  are  not  episcopal.  For  these  theologians  have  de- 
clared in  substance  what  their  famous  Dodwell  has 
declared  in  form  :  "  that  the  alone  want  of  communion 
with  the  bishop  makes  persons  aliens  from  God  and 
Christ,  and  strangers  from  the  covenants  of  promise, 
and  the  commonwealth  of  Israel." 

But  this  able  and  eloquent  writer  has  not  done  full 
justice  to  Dodwell.  For  that  honest  nonjuror  struck 
an  octave  higher  than  his  disciples  in  these  United 
States  have  yet  done.  He  pushed  the  popish  doc- 
trine of  baptismal  regeneration  so  far  as  to  assert, 
that  all    infants  come  into* the  world  without  souls  ; 


422  RELIEF    IN    A    BISHOP. 

which  are  infused  into  them  only  when  a  bishop,  priest, 
or  deacon,  baptizes  them,  by  sprinkling  water  on  the 
face,  and  tracing  the  sign  of  the  cross  upon  the  fore- 
head.  All  other  baptism  this  strenuous  high  churchman 
holds  to  be  null  and  void  ;  and,  consequently,  all  non- 
episcopalians,  having  no  souls,  can  have  no  claim  upon 
the  covenant  mercy  of  God,  but  are  left  to  death  and 
annihilation,  like  the  beasts  that  perish. 

This  doctrine  is,  perhaps,  as  absurd,  and,  certainly, 
more  humane  than  that  of  the  papists  and  high-flying 
formalists,  who  do,  indeed,  allow  nonepiscopal  people 
to  have  souls ;  but,  in  their  great  Christian  compassion 
and  charity,  consign  those  souls  to  the  bottomless  pit, 
because  they  lack  episcopalian  christening  and  confir- 
mation. 

To  say  sooth,  these  wwcovenanted  doctors  do  actually 
make  belief  in  a  bishop  more  essential  to  salvation 
than  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  In  what  part  of 
the  Scriptures  do  these  gentlemen  find,  that  eternal 
life  is  made  to  hinge  upon  connexion  with  any  par- 
ticular external  church  order  and  government?  The 
transit  of  an  immortal  soul  from  earth  to  heaven,  or  to 
hell,  depends  upon  /a r  other  grounds,  than  whether  he 
was  an  episcopalian,  or  presbyterian,  or  congrega- 
tionalist.  The  word  of  God  says  :  "  he  that  believeth 
(in  Christ,  not  in  the  bishop)  and  is  baptized,  shall  be 
saved;  and  he  that  believeth  not,  shall  be  damned." 
Hence,  faith  in  the  Redeeming  God  is  the  indispensa- 
ble condition  of  salvation ;  notwithstanding  our  divines 
place  this  condition  upon  the  participation  of  Christian 
ordinances  at  the  hands  of  themselves  and  their  autho- 
rized brethren. 

What!  ho!  father  Abraham!  said  Mr.  Whitfield, 
when  preaching  at  Philadelphia — whom  have  you  in 
heaven  ?  any  episcopalians  ?  no.  Any  presbyterians  ? 
no.  Any  baptists?  no.  Have  you  any  method- 
ists  there?  no.  Any  independents,  or  covenanters, 
or  burghers,  or  antiburghers  ?  no.  Whom  have  you 
then    in    heaven  ?    cried    the    impassioned    preacher. 


MH.    ^VHITFIELD.  423 

We  know  not  any  of  those  names  here  ;  all  who  are 
here  are  Christians — believers  in  Christ;  men,  who 
have  overcome  by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  and  the 
word  of  his  testimony.  Is  this  the  case  ?  continned 
the  venerable  speaker— then,  God  help  me! — God 
bless  us  all  to  forget  party  names,  and  sectarian  dis- 
tinctions, and  bigoted  differences,  and  to  become 
Christians,  in  deed  and  in  truth.  Amen  !  so  may  it  be, 
Amen  ! 

This  father  of  the  Calvinistic  methodists  might 
have  added  an  apostrophe  to  another  distinguished 
personage,  and  said  :  "  Ho  !  Beelzebub  !  ho  !  Satan  ! 
thou  prince  of  darkness,  thou  destroyer  of  the  sovds 
of  men !  are  there  any  papists  in  hell  ?  yes.  Any 
protestant  episcopalians?  yes.  Any  independents,  or 
congregationalists  ?  yes.  Any  presbyterians  ?  yes. 
Any  methodists  ?  yes.  Any  baptists  ?  yes.  Any 
lay  churchmen,  teachers,  and  preachers,  and  ex- 
pounders ?  yes.  Have  you  any  Christians  ?  no.  We 
have  an  innumerable  multitude  of  formalists,  and  bi- 
gots, and  sectarians,  and  persecutors  of  all  persua- 
sions and  denominations,  of  every  tongue  and  name, 
and  country,  in  that  region,  soil,  and  clime,  where 
their  worm  dieth  not,  and  where  their  fire  is  never 
quenched.  But  we  have  not  one  solitary  Christian,  of 
any  age,   or  either  sex." 

Who  can  tell  the  number  of  souls  that  have  been 
lulled  into  the  sleep  of  eternal  death,  by  those  teachers 
who  place  the  extei'nal  order  of  their  church,  at  least, 
upon  a  level  with  the  merits  of  the  Redeemer,  to  pro- 
cure acceptance  before  God  ?  Nay,  as  to  nonepiscopa- 
lians,  episcopacy  is  the  fo^st,  and  faith  in  Christ  only 
the  second  requisite ;  for,  says  the  writer  above  cited — 
"  whoever  is  in  communion  with  the  bishop,  the  su- 
preme governor  of  the  church  upon  earth,  is  in  commu- 
nion with  Christ  the  head  of  it ;  and  whoever  is  not  in 
communion  with  the  bishop,  is  thereby  cut  off  from 
communion  with  Christ." 

So    then,     all    nonepiscopalians    are    incapable    of 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ ;    seeing  that  all  communion  with 


424  EPiscorACY — presbytery. 

Christ  lies  through  the  only  open  door  of  communion 
•with  the  bishop  ;  whence,  all  non episcopalians  live 
and  die  without  faith,  and  belief  in  a  bishop  is  more 
essential  to  salvation  than  belief  in  the  incarnate 
God. 

But  what  shall  we  say,  if  it  appear  that  this  notion 
of  the  jus  divinum  of  episcopacy  is  of  comparatively 
recent  date,  and  actually  posterior  to  a  similar  claim  on 
the  part  of  the  presbyterians  ?  The  first  English  re- 
formers, with  Cranmcr  at  their  head,  never  dreamed 
of  any  such  pretension  ;  indeed,  they  leaned  to  the 
Erastian  scheme,  and  appeared  to  consider  the  church 
merely  as  a  creature  of  the  state,  so  far  as  respected  its 
external  order,  government,  and  discipline.  Nor  was 
it  until  some  years  after  Elizabeth's  accession  to  the 
English  throne,  that  the  episcopalians  set  up  this 
claim,  in  opposition  to  a  similar  pretension  advanced  by 
the  presbyterians. 

In  the  year  1507,  a  separate  congregation  was  dis- 
covered in  London.  During  the  J^larian  persecu- 
tion, some  protestants  abstained  from  the  establish- 
ed popish  worship,  and  met  together,  as  a  church, 
whenever  it  could  be  done  safely.  Finding,  on 
Elizabeth's  accession,  that  the  mass  of  the  national 
clergy  were  those  very  men  who  had  conformed  to 
popery  under  her  sister,  and  assumed  to  be  pro- 
testants under  herself;  some  of  whom  had  aided  in 
murdering  the  martyrs ;  and  that  those  who  desired 
u  more  complete  reformation  were  suspended  and 
])ersecuted,  they  abstained  from  communion  with  the 
establishment,  and  still  worshipped  as  a  separate 
body. 

A  hundred  persons  were  detected,  flagrante  delicto^ 
in  the  very  act  of  worshipping  God,  in  the  Plumbers' 
liall ;  of  whom  ten  being  brought  before  the  bishop  of 
I^ondon,  were  severely  reprimanded.  Cartwright  pre- 
sented to  the  parliament  a  petition  for  further  reforma- 
tion ;  which  produced  a  controversy  between  him  and 
Whitgift,  that  resulted  in  carrying  Whitgift  to  Lam- 
beth, and  Cartwright  into  exile. 


WANDS WOllTH    PllESBYTKllY,  425 

The  puritans,  goaded  by  the  tyranny,  alike  impolitic 
and  iniquitous,  of  Elizabeth  and  her  bishops,  at  length 
resolved    to    separate    from    the   public   churches,   and 
Avorship  God  according  to  their  consciences,  in  private 
houses,   or   elsewhere.     They  formed  a  pre&hyterij  at 
Wandsworth,   near   London,   composed  of  several  mi- 
nisters  and  gentlemen.     At  first,   they  objected   only 
to  the  popish  habits  of  the  clergy,  and  to  certain  parts 
of  the  liturgy  ;    then  tliey  proceeded  to  condemn   the 
whole  system  of  the  hierarchy  ;    and  finally  made  the 
discovery    that    the    presbyterian    form    of  church   go- 
vernment and  discipline  was  of  divine  institution  and 
origin. 

Whereupon  the  churchmen,  not  willing  to  yield 
the  palm  of  precedency  to  dissenters,  put  on  their 
spectacles,  and  began  to  discern,  that  episcopacy  was 
not  merely  a  child  of  the  state,  but  an  ordinance  of 
God,  derived  from  apostolic  usage.  The  impious  in- 
ference, however,  that  communion  with  the  bishop  is 
communion  with  Christ,  and  separation  from  the  bishop 
is  separation  from  Christ,  was  not  imported  from  the 
Roman  into  the  Anglican  Church  until  a  period  much 
posterior  to  the  first  discovery  of  the  jus  divinum  of 
episcopacy. 

Some  grave  and  momentous  questions  were,  many 
years  since,  put  to  our  theologians  in  relation  to  this 
subject.  But,  even  unto  this  day,  these  questions  have 
received  no  satisfactory  answer. 

These  two  divines  were  called  upon  to  show,  that 
there  is  more  of  the  truth  and  efficacy  of  the  Gospel  in 
their  church  than  in  all  other  connexions,  since  they 
deny  all  communion  with  Christ  to  nonepiscopalians. 
'I'he  questions  run  thus :  "  will  you  accompany  us 
from  temple  to  temple,  from  pulpit  to  pulpit,  from  house 
to  house,  from  closet  to  closet,  and  agree,  that  in  propor- 
tion as  there  is  little  or  much  of  pure  and  undefiled  reli- 
gion in  them,  their  rank  in  the  scale  of  Christian  churches 
shall  be  high  or  low  ? 

"  In  the  church,  which  boasts  of  the  only  valid  mi- 
nistrations,  and    the    exclusive    prerogative    of    being 


426*  GRAVE    QUESTION'S. 

in  covenant  with  God,  is  there  more  evangelical 
preaching ;  more  of  Christ  crucified  ;  more  plain,  close, 
decisive  dealing  with  the  consciences  of  men,  upon  the 
things  which  belong  to  their  peace,  than  in  many  of 
the  churches  which  she  affects  to  despise  ?  Are  her 
authorized  priesthood  more  scrupulous  about  the  preser- 
vation of  pure  communion  ;  do  they  object  more  strongly 
to  the  admission  of  mere  men  of  the  world ;  and  are 
they  more  active  in  excluding  from  their  fellowship  the 
openly  irreligious  ?  Do  they  adopt  more  prompt  and 
vigorous  measures  to  expel  from  their  pulpits  doctrine 
which  flies  in  the  face  of  their  avowed  principles,  and  is 
acknowledged  by  themselves  to  be  subversive  of  the 
Christian  svstem  ? 

"  In  this  primitive,  apostolic  church,  are  the  sheep  of 
Christ,  and  his  lambs,  more  plentifully  fed  with  the 
bread  of  God,  which  came  down  from  heaven  ?  Has 
she  less  to  attract  the  thoughtless  gay,  and  more  to 
allure  those  who  become  seriously  concerned  about  their 
eternal  salvation,  than  is  to  be  found  in  hundreds  of 
churches,  which  she  virtually  delivers  to  Satan  ?  We 
demand  the  evidence  of  their  exclusive  fellowsliip  with 
the  Redeemer ;  we  insist  upon  their  showing,  according 
to  his  word,  the  superiority  of  their  practical  religion, 
both  in  quantity  and  quality." 

And  well  might  such  a  demand  be  made ;  for  if 
there  be  7iot  more  piety  within  than  without  the 
church,  of  what  profit  is  the  church  to  the  souls  of 
men?  If  the  American-Anglo-Church  be  not  tho- 
roughly evangelical,  the  whole  population  of  the 
United  States  is  in  a  very  fearful  condition ;  because 
all  out  of  that  church,  according  to  this  clerical 
theory,  have  no  claim  whatever  to  eternal  salvation. 
They  are  all  thrust  out  of  the  pale  of  the  visible 
church  of  Christ ;  are  all  left  to  the  uncovenanted 
mercy  of  God  ;  have  no  access  to  redemption  by  the 
blood  of  the  cross;  however  entire  miiy  be  their 
faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  GJod  their  righteous- 
ness and  God  their  strength ;  however  pure  and  holy 
may   be   their   morals,   flowing   from,   and   evidencing 


ARCHBISHOP    WAKE.  427 

their  faith ;  however  zealous,  constant  and  effectual 
in  the  conversion  of  their  perishing  fellow-sinners  to 
God,  may  be  their  preaching,  and  proclaiming 
the   glad    tidings    of  salvation   to   a   lost    and    ruined 

world. 

Such  presumption  and  arrogance  would  be  ridicu- 
lous, were  it  not  truly  lacrymable,  that  any  one  single, 
individual  protestant  can  be  found  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  so  fooUslily  fanatic,  so  basely  bigoted,  so  un- 
christian, so  antichristiau  as  to  advance  this  rankest  of 
all  the  dogmas  of  popery.  And  these  men,  who  thus 
liberally  uncovenant,  unchurch,  unchristianize  all 
other  denominations,  call  themselves  Arminians;  and 
profess  to  believe,  that  the  Saviour  died  for  all  man- 
kind, including  heathens  and  Mahometans,  as  well 
as  Christians ;  and  certainly,  the  warriors  of  the 
crescent,  and  the  worshippers  of  the  innumerable 
pagan  deities,  are  quite  as  sturdy  nonej)isco\m\iai\s,  as 
the  presbyteriaus,  or  congregationalists,  or  baptists  can 
possibly  be. 

To  countervail  the  high  authority  above  adduced, 
take  the  following  extract  from  archbishop  Wake's  let- 
ter to  Le  Clerc,  in  which  that  distinguished  prelate 
does  not    scruple   to   denominate   mcmiacs,    all    those 
who  presume  to  unchurch  and  uncovenant  nonepiscopal 
protcstants.     Listen  to  the  great  scourge  of  popery,  and 
see,  if  he  countenances  this  peculiar  doctrine  of  our  mo- 
dern fashionable  theologians.  r- 
"  Ecclcsias  reform atas,    etsi   in   aliquibus    a   nostra 
Anglicana  dissentientes,  libenter  amplector.      Optarem 
equidem    regimen    episcopale    bene    temperatum,    et 
ab    omni   injusta  dominatione   sejunctum,  quale  apud 
nos  obtinet,  et,    si  quid  ego  in  his  rebus  sapiam,  ab 
ipso   Apostolorum  aevo  in  ecclesia  receptum   fuerit,  et 
ab   iis   omnibus  retentum   fuisset ;    nee   despero  quin 
aliquando  restitutum,   si  non  ipse  videam,    at  posteri 
videbunt.     Interim  absit,   ut  ego    tarn  ferrei  pectoris 
sim,  ut  ob  ejus  defectum,  (sic  mihi  absque  omni  invi- 
dia    appellare    liceat)    aliquas    earum    a    communione 
nostra    abscindendas    credam  ;    aut    cum     quibusdam 


428  REV.    SAMUEL    WIX. 

furiosis  inter  iios  scriptoribus,  eas  nulla  vera  ac  valida 
sacramenta  habere,  adeoque  vix  Christiaiios  esse  pro- 
iiiintiera.  Unionem  arctiorem  inter  omncs  reformatos 
jn-ocurare  quovis  pretio  vellem." 

I  willingly  embrace  the  reformed  churches,  al- 
though dissenting,  in  some  respects,  from  our  church 
of  England.  I  could,  indeed,  wish,  that  a  well  tem- 
pered episcopal  regimen,  without  any  unjust  domi- 
nation, such  as  obtains  among  us,  and  if  I  have  any 
skill  in  these  matters,  such  as  hath  been  received  in 
the  church  from  the  apostolic  age,  were  retained  by 
them  all ;  nor  do  I  despair,  but  that  it  will  some  time 
be  restored  ;  if  I  may  not,  posterity  will  see  it.  In  the 
mean  while,  God  forbid  that  I  should  be  so  iron- 
hearted,  as  on  account  of  such  a  defect,  (permit  me  so 
to  call  it  without  offence,)  to  believe  that  some  of 
them  should  be  cut  off  from  our  communion,  or  with 
certain  maniac  writers  among  us,  to  pronounce,  that 
they  have  no  true  and  valid  sacraments;  and  thus 
are,  themselves,  scarcely  Christians.  I  would  pur- 
chase, at  any  price,  a  more  intimate  union  among  all 
the  reformed. 

If  ever  the  hope  of  the  good  archbishop  be  real- 
ized, that  episcopacy  will  be  universal,  it  requires  no 
spirit  of  prophecy  to  predict,  that  its  universality  will 
not  be  forwarded  by  the  efforts  of  those  men,  who 
preach  up  their  own  exclusive  claim  to  covenant 
mercy,  and  consign  all  other  denominations  to  the  bot- 
tomless ■j)it. 

The  Rev.  Samuel  Wix,  in  his  recent  proposal  for 
a  reunion  of  the  Roman  and  Anglican  Churches,  for 
the  avowed  very  laudable  purpose  of  destroying 
the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  and  extermi- 
nating all  protestant  nonepiscopalians,  represents 
archbishop  Wake  as  a  champion  of  exclusive  church- 
manship,  and  as  preferring  papists  to  protestant  dis- 
senters. Whereas,  that  able  and  learned  primate 
entertained  a  wholesome  abhorrence  of  all  compro- 
mise   with  any   popish  communion,    whether  Galilean 


DISSENTERS— PAPISTS.  4^9 

or  Roman ;  and  also  held  a  charitable  and  devo- 
tional union  with  protestant  dissenters  to  be  a  Chris- 
tian duty. 

The  English  metropolitan's  notions  respecting  a 
union  between  the  Anglican  and  Gallican  Churches, 
are  detailed  at  length  in  INIaclaine's  Mosheim  ;  and 
the  duty  of  conciliating  protestant  nonepiscopalians  is 
urged  in  the  archbishop's  sermons,  one  of  which  is 
devoted  exclusively  to  exhorting  mutual  charity  and 
luiion  among  protestants. 

In  this  sermon  archbishop  Wake  insists,  that  the 
departure  of  English  dissenters  from  the  church  of 
England  is  merely  in  matters  of  indifference ;  that  the 
papists  alone  hold  opinions  irreconcilable  with  the 
unity  and  charity  desirable  amongst  Christians  ;  that 
this  union  and  charity,  if  ever  attained,  must  be 
sought  by  a  direct  toleration  and  mutual  concession 
among  the  protestant  denominations,  in  the  points 
about  w^hich  they  differ ;  and  that  this  Christian  union 
and  harmony,  not  only  may,  but  will  be  effected 
among  the  various  protestant  persuasions^  in  the  due 
course  of  time. 

He  expressly  says,  "  for  us,  whom  it  hath  pleased 
God,  by  delivering  us  from  the  errors  and  supersti- 
tions of  the  church  of  Rome,  to  unite  together  in  the 
common  name  of  protestant  reformed  Christians,  were 
we  but  as  heartily  to  labour  after  peace,  as  we  are  all  of 
us  very  highly  exhorted  to  it;  1  cannot  see  why  we, 
who  are  so  happily  joined  together  in  a  common  pro- 
fession of  the  same  faith,  at  least,  I  am  sure,  in  all  the 
necessary  points  of  it,  and  1  hope,  amidst  all  our  lesser 
differences,  in  a  common  love  and  charity  to  one  ano- 
ther, should  not  also  be  united  in  the  same  common 
worship  of  God  too. 

"  This  makes  the  difference  between  those  errors 
for  which  \\c  separate  from  the  church  of  Rome,  and 
those  controversies  which  sometimes  arise  among 
protestants  themselves.  The  former  are  in  matters 
of   the   greatest   consequence,    such    as  tend   directly 


430  REF,    DI?.    BOWDF.N. 

to  overthrow  the  integrity  of  faith  and  the  purity  of 
our  worship;  and,  therefore,  such  as  are  in  their  own 
nature  destructive  of  the  very  essentials  of  Chris- 
tianity. Whereas  our  differences  do  not  at  all  con- 
cern the  foundations,  either  of  faith  or  worship,  and 
are  therefore  such  in  which  good  men,  if  they  be 
otherwise  diligent  and  sincere  in  their  inquiry,  may 
differ  without  any  prejudice  to  themselves,  or  any 
just  reflection  upon  the  truth  of  their  common  pro- 
fession." 

Indeed,  the  main  object  of  this  admirable  sermon  is, 
to  expose  the  essential  characteristic  of  a  false  and  anti- 
christian  religion,  namely :  the  desire  of  unchurching 
and  excommunicating  those  who  differ  from  its  pro- 
fessors in  points  not  fundamental,  as  church  order  and 
government,  rites,  ceremonies,  and  all  the  exterior  of 
public  worship. 

The  late  Rev.  Dr.  Bowden,  by  far  the  ablest  and 
most  learned  advocate  for  the  episcopal  order,  that  has 
yet  risen  in  the  United  States,  with  a  liberality  and 
catholic  spirit,  well  becoming  a  Christian  minister,  ex- 
pressly avows  that  he  neither  unchurches,  nor  excludes 
nonepiscopalians  from  salvation.  In  his  letters  on 
"  the  apostolic  origin  of  episcopacy,"  he  says :  "  it  is 
no  part  of  my  creed,  that  a  man  cannot  be  saved  who  is 
not  an  episcopalian.  I  am  not  endeavouring  to  un- 
church other  denominations. 

"  Here,  a  difference  takes  place  among  episcopa- 
lians; and  we  may  reasonably  expect  that  it  would; 
for  the  Scripture  has  said  nothing  about  the  conse- 
quences of  the  opinion  (the  divine  right  of  episcopacy) 
I  am  maintaining.  What  the  essence  of  a  churcli  is, 
neither  presbyteriaus  nor  episcopalians  have  as  yet  de- 
termined. Upon  the  question,  what  defect  un- 
churches, unanimity  is  not  to  be  looked  for.  Some 
presbyteriaus  say,  the  want  of  a  ministry  unchurches ; 
others  say,  it  does  not.  Some  of  them  say,  that  lay 
baptism  is  invalid ;  others  say,  no.  Some  unchurch  in- 
dej)endents  and  quakcrs,  and  some  otlier  denominations. 
Oilier  presbyteriaus  do  not. 


UNCHUIICHING.  431 

"  AVhen  you  shall  have  the  good  fortune  to  agree 
among  yourselves,  what  is  the  precise  point  at  which 
a  church  loses  that  character,  perhaps  your  dis- 
coveries will  lead  episcopalians  to  unanimity ;  till 
then,  v.e  sliall  not  be  agreed,  whether  the  divine 
right  of  episcopacy  necessarily  involves  the  conse- 
quence, that  denominations  which  have  not  bishops, 
when  it  proceeds  from  necessity,  want  a  valid  minis- 
try ;  and  whether  again  the  want  of  such  a  ministry 
completely  unchurches.  Bishop  Hall  maintained  epis- 
copacy upon  the  ground  of  divine  right,  and  yet  he  did 
not  tliink  episcopacy  absolutely  essential  to  the  being  of 
a  church. 

"  There  are  two  principal  divisions  of  episcopa- 
lians. One  division  believe  that  episcopacy  is  of 
divine  right,  in  that  strict  sense,  that  there  can  be  no 
valid  administration  without  it.  At  the  same  time, 
they  do  not  entertain  the  most  distant  thought  that 
the  want  of  it  will  preclude  men  from  salvation, 
when  it  proceeds  from  necessity,  or  from  honest  er- 
ror. They  believe  that  such  error  will  be  forgiven, 
and  sincere  piety  accepted  in  all,  who  profess  the 
faith  of  Christ.  They  think,  that  if  episcopacy  be 
a  divine  institution,  and  there  can  be  no  church 
without  a  ministry,  the  inevitable  consequence  is, 
that  episcopacy  is  essential  to  the  visible  church. 
But  they  say,  when  the  heart  is  right,  that  grace, 
which  is  not  promised  to  unauthorized  administra- 
tions, is  granted  by  special  favour,  so  that  none  will 
fail  of  salvation,  when  the  error  is  not  wilful,  or  when 
necessity  excludes  men  from  episcopal  administra- 
tions. 

"  The  other  class  of  episcopalians,  although  they 
believe  episcopacy  to  have  been  instituted  by  the 
apostles,  under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  yet 
do  not  consider  it  as  essential  to  the  being  of  a 
church.  Presbyterian  churches,  they  consider  as 
defective,  but  not  deprived  of  their  church  charac- 
ter ;  as  excusable,  when  episcopacy  cannot  be  had ; 
as  irregular  and  unscriptural   in    their  ministry,  but 


432  NATIONAL    CHURCHES. 

by  110  means  devoid  of  a  valid  ministry.  They  do 
not  unchurch  dissenters  from  episcopacy ;  they  do 
not  place  them  under  uncovenantcd  mercy ;  they 
have  the  sa7ne  channels  of  grace  open  to  them  that 
episcopalians  have,  and  consequently,  may  he  as  ffood, 
or  bctfe?^  than  they,  if  placed  in  a  more  favourable 
situation." 

Thus,  Dr.  Eovvden  draws  the  line  of  distinction 
between  the  apostolic  succession  of  episcopacy,  and 
the  unchurching,  uncovenanting  all  nonepiscopal  deno- 
minations. Not  so  the  full-fledged  formalist ;  with 
him,  the  church  is  all,  and  Christ  nothing ;  with  him, 
belief  in  a  bishop  is  infinitely  more  momentous  than 
faith  in  the  Son  of  God. 

Let  it  not  be  deemed  uncharitable  to  surmise  the 
possibility  of  some  of  the  fiercest  of  these  exclusive 
formalists,  being  doomed  to  lie  howling  in  the  midst 
of  their  own  church  privileges  and  self-righteous- 
ness, while  many  of  those,  whom  they  so  charitably 
uncovenant,  may  be  ministering  angels  to  that  Lord 
of  glory,  on  whose  all-sufficient  sacrifice  alone  they 
suspended  their  hope  of  eternal  salvation.  There 
shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth,  when  ye 
shall  see  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and  all 
the  prophets  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  you,  your- 
selves, thrust  out.  And  they  shall  come  from  the 
east  and  from  the  west,  and  from  the  north  and  from 
the  south,  and  shall  sit  doAvn  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 

Liberal-minded  men,  indeed,  are  not  prone  to 
cherish  such  a  pernicious  spirit ;  but  seize  every  op- 
portunity of  protesting  against  this  unchristian  bi- 
gotry. Mr.  Toplady,  in  his  "  Church  of  England  A^in- 
dicated,"  says :  "  nor  does  it  follow  that  the  church 
of  Lngland,  in  believing  for  herself  the  necessity  of 
episcopal  ordination,  does  thereby  unchurch  those 
of  the  reformed  churches  abroad,  which  have  no  bi- 
shops, any  more  than  that  those  churches  unchurch 
us  for  retaining  our  excellent  and  primitive  mode  of 
ecclesiastical  government.  National  churches  that 
are  independent    on    each     other,    have,  respectively, 


COVENANT-DILEMMA.  433 

an  internal  right  to  establish  such  forms  of  regimen 
as  to  them  seem  most  scriptural  and  expedient.  And 
this  indefeasible  right  may  pass  into  execution,  with- 
out any  violation  of  that  Christian  charity,  and  neigh- 
bourly affection,  which  ought  to  subsist  between 
churches  that  agree  in  the  common  faith  of  the 
Gospel." 

And  Mr.  Gisborne,  in  his  *'  Duties  of  Men,"  says  : 
"  it  is  now  admitted  by  the  generality  of  protestants, 
that  no  command  was  delivered,  either  by  Christ,  or  by 
his  apostles,  assigning  to  the  Christian  church  any  spe- 
cific, unalterable  form  of  government;  but,  that  while 
various  offices,  suited  to  the  situation  and  exigencies  of 
the  new  converts,  were  instituted  at  the  beginning,  some 
of  which,  as  that  of  deaconesses,  have  long  fallen  into 
disuse,  Christians  were  left  at  liberty  to  adopt  in  future 
times  such  modes  of  ecclesiastical  administration  and 
discipline,  as  they  should  deem  most  eligible,  in  the 
circumstances  under  which  they  should  find  themselves 
placed." 

JMr.  Gisborne  then  proceeds,  following  the  example 
of  Hooker,  in  his  "  Ecclesiastical  Polity,"  to  show,  that 
the  distinction  of  orders  in  the  church  is  well  fitted  to 
the  gradations  of  rank  in  the  civil  government  of  Eug-- 
land. 

But  how  do  our  deep  divines  establish  tlieir  posi- 
tion, that  nonepiscopalians  have  no  covenant  claim 
to  salvation,  seeing  that  they  do  7iot  pretend  to  ad- 
duce one  syllable  from  the  Scriptures  in  su})port  of 
their  theory  ?  If  it  appear  from  the  Bible,  that  God 
has  promised  eternal  life  to  those  who  believe  in 
Christ,  without  putting  in  any  clause  of  exception 
against  nonepiscopalians,  then  they  have  a  claim 
upon  covenant  mercy.  And  if  the  Bible  contains 
such  a  clogged  promise,  confining  salvation  exclu- 
sively to  the  episcopal  channel,  by  ivhat  authority  do 
our  theologues  undertake  to  assert,  that  any  nonepis- 
copalian  can  escape  damnation,  since  the  Scriptures 
say  nothing  about  uncovenanted  mercy  ?  and  they 
both    assert,     that    communion     with     the    episcopal 

2  r 


.434  CALVINISTIC    PRESBYTEraANS. 

priesthood    is    an     indispensable    condition   of    salva- 
tion. 

One  of  these  theologians  iterates,  and  reiterates,  his 
candid  conviction,  that  all  in  coramnnion  with  the 
episcopal  church  are  in  covenant  with  God  ;  and  that 
all  others  are  aliens  from  the  commonwealth  of  Israel, 
strangers  to  the  covenant  of  promise,  and  have  no  hope 
but  in  the  ?mcovenanted  mercy  of  God.  He  then 
proceeds  to  charge  the  presbyterians  with  entertaining 
a  similar  opinion,  with  excluding  from  the  Christian 
covenant  all,  save  presbyterians  ;  and  pronouncing  all, 
who  do  not  embrace  the  rigid  peculiarities  of  Calvin- 
ism, to  be  in  an  unregenerate  state,  and  left  to  un- 
covenanted  mercy. 

I  believe,  it  would  not  be  easy  to  find  any  Cal- 
vinistic  presbyterian  so  vei^y  ignorant  of  the  Bible,  as 
ever  to  speak  about  uncovenanted  mercy,  so  entirely 
unacquainted  with  the  Gospel  plan  of  redemption, 
as  to  dream  of  any  mercy,  otJicr  than  what  is  pro- 
mised by  the  covenant  of  grace  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  The  truth  is,  Calvinistic  presbyterians  pro- 
fess to  believe  that,  by  the  covenant  of  grace,  salva- 
tion is  promised  to  ail  who  really  repent  of  sin,  and 
sincerely  believe  in  Christ,  as  the  great  propitia- 
tion for  sin,  to  xvhatever  church  they  may  belong ; 
nay,  although  they  bear  no  relation  to  any  visible 
church. 

Not  that  they  consider  church  fellowship  as  unim- 
portant ;  for  they  strongly  enforce  its  duty,  and  loudly 
proclaim  its  benefits ;  but  they  do  not  confound  the  ex- 
ternal means  of  religion  with  its  intrinsic  essence.  They 
hold  the  Scriptural,  catholic.  Christian  doctrine,  that 
all  who  really  believe  in,  and  love  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  evidence  their  faith  and  love  by  a  holy 
life;  whatever  mistakes  they  may  commit,  with  respect 
to  external  church  order  and  government,  nay,  if  they 
be  so  situated,  as  to  be  unconnected  with  any  eccle- 
siastical body  ;  a7X  in  covenant  with  God,  and  possess 
that  title  to  eternal  life,  which  God  has  promised  to 
every  sincere  believer. 


i\n{.  WESLRY.  435 

\Vc  may  die  —  says  John  \Vesley,  who  was  an 
evangelical  Armiiiian,  and  consequently,  a  charitable 
Cliristian — without  the  knowledge  of  many  truths,  and 
yet  be  carried  into  Abraham's  bosom ;  but  if  we  die 
without  lovCf  what  will  knowledge  avail  ?  Just  as 
niucli  as  it  avails  the  devil  and  his  angels.  I  will  not 
quarrel  with  you  about  any  opinion  ;  only  see  that 
your  heart  be  right  towards  God ;  that  you  know 
and  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ;  that  you  love  your 
neighbour,  and  walk  as  your  master  walked ;  and 
I  desire  no  more.  I  am  sick  of  opinions ;  I  am 
weary  to  hear  them ;  my  soul  loathes  this  frothy 
food.  Give  me  solid  and  substantial  religion  ;  give 
me  an  humble,  gentle  lover  of  God  and  man  ;  a  man 
full  of  mercy  and  good  faith ;  without  partiality,  and 
without  hypocrisy  ;  a  man  laying  himself  out  in  the 
work  of  faith,  tlie  patience  of  hope,  the  labour  of  love. 
Let  my  soul  be  with  these  Christians,  wheresoever 
they  are,  and  whatsoever  opinion  they  are  of.  Who- 
soever thus  doth  the  will  of  my  Father,  which  is  in 
heaven,  the  same  is  my  mother,  and  sister,  and 
brother. 

This  benignant  disposition  led  him  to  judge  kindly  of 
all  Christian  denominations;  and  he  believed,  that  hea- 
thens, who  did  their  duty  according  to  their  knowledge, 
were  capable  of  eternal  life  ;  nay,  even  that  a  communion 
with  tlie  spiritual  world  had,  sometimes,  been  vouchsafed 
to  thein  ;  for  example,  to  Socrates,  and  JNLircus  Anto- 
ninus ;  which  last  heathen,  by  the  by,  was  a  horrible 
persecutor  of  the  Christians,  from  whom  he,  however, 
condescended  to  borrow  his  moral  sentiments  and  sen- 
tences. Such  men,  JMr.  ^Veslev  supposed,  together 
with  other  ])agans,  belonged  to  those  many,  who  shall 
come  from  the  east  and  the  west,  and  sit  down  with 
Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  while  the  children  of  the 
kingdom,  nominal  Christians,  formalhts,  are  shut 
out. 

The     '^/7^covenanting    divines    very    generally    pro- 

.  claim   themselves  to    be  stanch    Arminians  ;   whereas, 

in   fact,  they  have  no  more  acquaintance  with  James 

;2  F  2 


436  CALVIN VAN    AIIMIX. 

Van  Armin,  than  with  Joliii  Calvin.  Their  chief 
claim  to  the  title  of  Arminian,  being  an  incessant 
abuse  of  Calvinism ;  which  tliey  revile  with  about 
the  same  rancour,  that  the  Socinian  assails  the  doc- 
trine of  the  atonement,  and  the  deist  attacks  Reve- 
lation. 

But  Calvin  and  Arminius  differ  only  as  to  the  five 
debatable  points ;  a  belief  in  which  no  reasonable  Cal- 
vinist  considers  as  essential  to  salvation ;  no  more  than 
any  sane,  sensible  churchman,  any  one  not  belonging  to 
the  furiosi  of  archbishop  Wake,  deems  belief  in  epis- 
copacy to  be  an  indispensable  condition  of  salvation. 
Both  Arminius  and  Calvin  agree  in  believing  the  evan- 
gelical doctrines  of  original  sin,  and  human  depravity  ; 
of  spiritual,  7iot  baptismal,  regeneration  ;  and  of  justifi- 
cation by  faith. 

Now,  exclusive  formalists,  whatever  they  may  pro- 
fess in  general  terms,  do  not  really  hold  any  one  of  these 
evangelical  tenets.  For,  in  their  opinion,  the  taint 
of  original  sin  is  so  very  slight,  that  it  can  be  washed 
clean  off  by  a  little  water  sprinkled  on  the  face  of 
an  infant,  provided  the  sprinkling  be  performed  by 
a  bishop,  priest,  or  deacon ;  seeing  tliat,  according 
to  their  great  exemplar,  bishop  Mant,  "  7io  oilier  con- 
version than  baptismal  regeneration  is  possible  in  this 
world." 

Thus,  are  two  of  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity diluted  into  nothing ;  and,  in  the  same  hands, 
justification  by  faith  shares  a  sinsilar  fate.  For,  with 
the  aid  of  their  "  terms  and  conditions  of  salvation," 
they,  altogether,  explode  free  redemption  by  grace,  or 
sovereign  favour;  and,  actually,  represent  a  guilty, 
condemned  sinner,  as  entering  into  independent,  mutual, 
running  covenants,  with  an  offended  God,  who  is  of 
purer  eyes  than  to  behold  iniquity,  and  transgres- 
sion, and  sin,  in  whose  sight  the  angels  are  charged 
with  folly,  and  the  heavens  are  pronounced  to  be 
unclean.  These  men  undertake  to  perform  their  part 
of  the  special  contract,  if  Jehovah  will  fulfil  his  part  of 
the  assumpsit. 


JUSTIFICATION    liY    FAITH.  437 

Tills  is,  to  say  the  least,  very  vicious  pleading  ;  and 
certainly,  Anniiiius  steers  as  clear  of  all  siicli  folly  and 
blasphemy,  as  does  Calvin  himself  Towards  the  close 
of  the  first,  and  in  the  beginning  of  the  second  volumes 
of  "  The  Washington  Theological  Repertory,"  a 
work  of  excellent  augury  to  the  best  interests  of  the 
American-Anglo-Church,  seeing  that  it  is  demoted  to 
the  dissemination  of  Scriptural  truth  and  evangelical 
doctrine,  the  all  important  subject  of  justification  is 
discussed.  In  the  twelfth  number,  the  following  sum- 
mary, deduced  from  the  preceding  facts  and  reasoning, 
is  presented  to  the  consideration  of  the  Christian 
reader. 

"Such  are  the  views  of  the  doctrine  of  justifica- 
tion, (by  faith)  as  entertained  by  the  reformers  and 
luminaries  of  our  church  ;  such,  also,  is  the  view  en- 
tertained bv  Armiuius  liimself,  who,  in  Thesis  48,  de 
justificatione,  says— " justificatio  est  actio  Dei  judicis, 
justa  ct  gratiosa,  qua  de  throno  gratia?,  et  misericor- 
diae,  hominem  peccatorem,  sed  fidelem,  propter 
Christum,  Christique  obedientiam,  et  justitiam,  a 
peccatis  absolvit,  et  justum  censet,  ad  justificati  sa- 
lutem,  et  justitise,  gratiaeque  ceternaB  gloriam."  Such 
is  the  doctrine  of  our  articles,  our  liturgy,  and  ho- 
milies ;  and  above  all,  such  is  the  unequivocal  doc- 
trine of  holy  Scripture.  By  grace  are  we  saved, 
through  faith,  not  of  works,  lest  any  man  should 
boast. 

"  The  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  is  termed 
by  Lather,  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  a  rising 
or  falling  church.  .  It  forms  one  of  the  most  important 
points  of  distinction  between  the  Roman  and  the  re- 
formed churches ;  the  doctrine  of  justification  by 
works,  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Romish  church  ;  and  it 
will  always  be  the  popular  doctrine,  says  Buchanan, 
among  Christians  who  have  little  true  religion,  by 
whatever  denomination  they  may  be  called.  For  it 
is  the  doctrine  of  the  world;  it  is  found  where  the 
name  of  Christ  is  not  known  ;  and  it  is  the  spirit  of 
every  false  religion  and  superstition  upon  earth." 


438  FOUiNJAl,    Tlll.OLU(JV. 

The  \vriter  of  this  instructive  article  in  the  Reper- 
tory, has  proved,  by  abundant  citations  from  their 
writings,  that  the  scriptural  doctrine  of  justification 
by  faith,  was  held  by  Cranmer,  and  Latimer,  and  other 
of  our  venerable  reformers,  who  sealed  witli  tlieir  own 
blood,  their  testimony  to  the  truth  of  God.  And  large 
extracts  are  also  made  from  Hooker,  showing  his  un- 
shaken belief  in  the  same  doctrine.  That  very  Hooker,  to 
wliose  "  Ecclesiastical  Polity"  the  formalists  perpetually 
refer  for  proof  of  tlie  apostolic  origin  of  episcopacy  ; 
but  respecting  whose  truly  evangelical  sermons,  they 
all  observe  a  sepulchral  silence ;  probably  because 
they  do  not  lie  within  the  range  of  their  theological 
studies. 

Such  is  the  substance  of  formal  theology ;  if,  in- 
deed, formalists  can  be  said  to  prcacli  any  doctrine  ; 
for,  in  general,  these  divines  take  a  text,  no  matter 
what,  and  fiourisli  away  about  fifteen  or  twenty  mi- 
nutes on  the  importance  of  some  overt  act  of  duty, 
and  the  necessity  of  abstaining  from  the  external 
commission  of  some  of  the  grosser  sins,  without  ever 
once  themselves  dreaming,  much  less  directing 
others,  how,  and  by  what  aid,  a  sinner,  whose  carnal 
heart  is  enmity  against  God,  is  to  do  the  will  of  Je- 
hovah. For  any  purpose  of  Christian  instruction, 
such  ministers  might  as  well  select  a  sentence  from 
the  Enchiridion  of  Epictetus,  or  the  JNIorals  of  Seneca, 
or  Tully's  Offices,  on  which  to  dole  forth  their  diluted, 
thin  sabbatical  ethics. 

In  good  truth,  these  men  have  no  system  of  theology 
whatever ;  and  so  far  as  relates  to  evangelical  doctrine, 
the  Bible  is,  to  them,  as  much  a  volume  closed, 
and  a  fountain  sealed,  as  the  Koran,  or  the  Talmud, 
or  the  Shastrus.  They  set  themselves  with  most  par- 
ticular stoutness  against  all  conversions  of  individuals, 
and  all  revivals  of  religion,  which  they,  invariably,  stig- 
matize as  mere  madness. 

This  compendious  method  of  reasoning,  is  in  very 
general   requisition,   among    formal   men    and  women. 


GF.NEIIAL    WOLFE — CHURCHMANSHIP.  4^9 

whenever  superior  zeal,  and  mightier  energy  disturb 
the  stagnant  drowsiness  of  the  surrounding  community. 
W^hen  Gcorij^e  the  second  had  determined  to  send  Wolfe 
to  Quebec,  his  courtiers  suggested  that  there  were  many 
older  generals,  who  ought  to  take  precedence  of  Wolfe 
in  this  military  expedition.  The  king  answered,  "  Wolfe 
shall  go."  The  courtiers  then  intimated,  that  AVolfe 
was  not  so  regularly  bred  as  some  other  of  his  majesty's 
generals.  The  monarch  still  insisted  that  Wolfe  sliould 
take  the  command.  A  noble  lord  then  declared,  it 
would  never  do  to  send  Wolfe,  for  he  was  mad.  "  jNIad  ! 
is  he?"  cried  the  royal  veteran, — "then  I  wish  he  would 
bite  my  other  generals." 

Quite  recently,  a  worthy  Connecticut  episcopal,  ex- 
clusive churcli  parson,  was  delivered  of  a  small,  stillborn 
pamphlet  against  conversions  and  revivals,  which  he 
reprobated  under  the  veritable  New-England  appellation 
of  '' Stirs r 

Those  divines,  who  make  discipline,  instead  of  doc- 
trine, the  essence  of  a  church,  not  only  unchurch  all 
denominations,  except  their  own,  but  break  down  every 
bulwark  of  sound  doctrine  in  their  own  persuasion. 
For  example,  episcopacy  is  the  essence  of  a  church, 
and  the  only  criterion  of  a  true  church ;  and  therefore, 
the  Greek  is  a  true  church,  although  she  is  heterodox, 
as  to  the  procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  And  the  Ro- 
man is  a  true  church,  notwithstanding  her  numerous 
schisms,  her  persecutions,  her  idolatry,  and  her  bias 
phemies. 

According  to  this  scheme  of  exclusive  churchmanship, 
also,  if  the  Anglican,  and  American-Anglo-Churches 
were  to  lapse  into  Socinianisra,  they  would  still  be  true 
churches  ;  and  communion  with  a  Socinian  bishop  would 
be  communion  with  Christ,  and  separation  from  a  So- 
cinian bisho])  would  be  separation  from  Christ,  although 
tluit  same  Socinian  bishop  denies  the  divinity  and  the 
atonement  of  Christ ;  denies  all  tiiat  is  essential  to,  and 
characteristic  of,  the  stupendous  plan  of  Christian  re- 
demption. 


440  CHURCH    VISIBLI-:    AND    INVISlliLK. 

Such  was  not  the  teaching  of  the  Reformers,  and 
greatest  luminaries  of  the  English  church.  They 
always  deemed  doctrine,  not  discipline,  to  be  the  es- 
sence of  a  church.  For  instance,  bishop  Hall  says : 
"  Blessed  be  God,  there  is  no  difference  in  any  es- 
sential matter  betwixt  the  church  of  England  and 
her  sisters  of  the  Reformation.  The  only  difference 
is  in  the  form  of  outward  administration  ;  wherein, 
also,  we  are  so  far  agreed,  as  that  we  all  profess  this 
form  not  to  be  essential  to  the  being  of  a  church, 
though  much  importing  the  well  or  better  being  of 
it,  according  to  our  several  apprehensions  thereof; 
and  that  we  do  all  retain  a  reverent  and  loving  opinion 
oi  each  other,  in  our  own  several  ways,  not  seeing 
any  reason,  why  so  poor  a  diversity  should  work  any 
alienation  of  affection  in  us,  one  towards  another." 

And  bishop  Andrews  says :  "  though  episcopal 
government  be  of  divine  institution,  yet  it  is  not  so 
absolutely  necessary  as  that  there  can  be  no  church, 
nor  sacraments,  nor  salvation  without  it.  He  is  blind, 
that  sees  not  many  churches  flourishing  wz7//02^/ it; 
and  he  must  have  a  heart  as  hard  as  iron,  that  will 
deny  them  salvation." 

Cranmer,  Hooker,  Jewel,  AVhitgift,  and  other 
great  fathers  of  the  Anglican  Church,  always  consider 
pure,  evangelical  doctrine  to  be  the  essential  charac- 
teristic of  a  true  church,  the  members  of  which  include 
"  the  blessed  company  of  all  faithful  people  :"  a  phrase- 
ology not  confined  by  them  to  mere  episcopalians,  but 
comprehending  all  '*  that  congregation  of  faithful  and 
holy  men  who  shall  be  saved." 

This  opinion  of  the  English  reformers  implies  the 
distinction  between  the  visible  and  invisible  church, 
a  doctrine  denied  by  exclusive  formalists,  who  as- 
sert, that  nothing  but  a  visible  church  exists  upon 
earth,  and  that  no  church  is  visible,  save  their  own. 
The  great  lights  of  the  English  church,  however, 
do  not  leave   such  an   important  distinction  to  impli- 


THE    TRUE    CHURCH.  441 

cation ;  for  it  is  strongly  expressed  by  Craumer, 
Jewel,  Hooker,  Whitgift,  Pearson,  and  other  eminent 
divines. 

The  best  theologians  of  the  Anglican  Church  have 
always  held,  that  any  part  of  the  visible  church 
would  cease  to  belong  to  the  church  of  Christ,  as 
soon  as  it  had  thoroughly  corrupted  the  purity  of  the 
word  of  God,  and  the  doctrine  of  the  sacraments, 
notwithstanding  the  episcopal  form  of  discipline  or 
government,  might  remain.  The  homily  for  Whit- 
sunday says :  "  the  true  church  is  an  universal  con- 
gregation, or  fellowship  of  God's  faithful  and  elect 
people,  built  upon  the  foundation  of  the  apostles 
and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ  himself  being  a  head  cor- 
ner stone.  And  it  hath  always  three  notes  or  marks, 
whereby  it  is  known  ;  pure  and  sound  doctrine,  the 
sacraments  ministered  according  to  Christ's  holy  in- 
stitution, and  the  right  use  of  ecclesiastical  disci- 
pline." 

But  how  <locs  this  definition  of  a  true  church,  given 
by  the  reformers  themselves,  accord  with  the  following 
formal  exposition  ?  "  The  characteristic  mark,  which 
distinguishes  any  society,  is  its  appropriate  government. 
The  appropriate  government  of  the  visible  church  is 
that  episcopal  form  originally  established  by  the  apos- 
tles. Where  that  form  of  government  is  to  be  found, 
there  the  church  of  Christ,  as   a  visible  society,  exists." 

One  of  our  highest  church  divines  emphatically 
warns  his  clerical  brethren  not  to  mistake  the  pre- 
sent age  of  religious  indifference  for  what  it  has  been, 
popularly,  but  erroneously,  called,  the  age  of  libe- 
rality. 

The  present,  then,  is  an  age  of  religious  indifference. 
The  greatest  divines  in  Christendom,  men  of  the 
deepest  piety,  the  most  exalted  talents,  the  most  com- 
prehensive learning,  the  most  unwearied  and  most 
effectual  activity  in  the  service  of  their  Redeemer, 
have  all  hailed  the  present  age,  as  peculiarly  blessed 
by  an  outpouring  of  the  spirit  from  on  high,  inciting 


442  RKiJGious  l^'DIl^EHl:NCJ^. 

all  ranks,  and  orders,  and  conditions  of  men,  to  in- 
creased, and  continually  increasing  efForts,  in  the  cause 
of  our  most  holy  religion. 

VV^as    it    religious  indifference    that  liglited   up  the 
labours    of  Claudius    Buchanan  ;     that    dictated     his 
"  Star   in  the   East,"— his  "  Light  of  the  World," — 
and   his   "  Eras  of  Light  ?"     Is   it    religious   indiffer- 
ence   that    has    already   spread   two    thousand    Bible 
Societies    over    the   face    of  a    benighted   world  ;    and 
stirred  up  in  the   hearts  of  an  innumerable   multitude 
of  Christian   men,  an  unquenchable    desire   to    diffuse 
the  word  of  God,  not   only  throughout  all   the    bor- 
ders of   their   own    home,  but   also    over  the  ren^otest 
regions   of  the   habitable    globe  ?      Has   religious    in- 
difference   planted    the    five   hundred    missionary   sta- 
tions,   by  which    the  Moravians,    the  methodists,  the 
baptists,    the    presbyterians,      the    congregationalists, 
the  Anglican,    (I  wish    I  could    add    the    American- 
Anglo)  church,  have   carried  the  glad   tidings  of  sal- 
vation  to   unnumbered  millions    of  souls,  in  the  four 
quarters   of  the   globe,    that   were  perishing    in    their 
blood,  without  God,  and  without  Christ,  and  without 
hope :  and  have  been   permitted  to  be  fellow- workers 
with  God,  in   hastening  the   approach  of  that  glorious 
day,    when  the    earth   shall  be   filled  with  the   know- 
ledge  of  the  Lord,    as   the   waters  cover  the   sea;  in 
accelerating    the  fulfilment    of  that   gracious    promise 
to  his  beloved   Son,  to  give  him   the   heathen   for  an 
inheritance,  and   the  uttermost   parts  of  the  earth  for 
his    dominion ;    in    hurrying    onward     the    arrival    of 
that   blessed   hour,  when   Jew  and  Gentile  sliall  bow 
down   together,  at  the   foot  of  the  cross,  in  faith,  and 
fear,  and  love,    and  gratitude,    and  adoration,  of  one 
common    Lord,    even    the    Lord  Jesus   Christ,    God 
their  righteousness,    and    God    their    strength ;  when 
every   partition    wall     shall    be    broken    down,    every 
sectarian    prejudice   laid   low,    and    all    the    sons    and 
daughters  of  men,    from  the  north  and  from  the  south, 
and  from   the  east,  and  from  the  west,  shall  come  and 
worship   their  Redeemer,  together  with  God  the  Fa- 


PRKACM    THE    GOSl'i:i>.  44-3 

tlicr,  and  Gotl  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  their  covenant 
Jehovah,  tlieir  Creator,  Preserver,  Saviour,  and  Sanc- 
tifier? 

Towards  the  close  of  the  publication  last  alluded  to, 
occurs  the  following  paragraph : — "  The  great  prin- 
ciple, into  whicli  all  the  other  principles  of  the  church- 
man may  be  resolved,  that  we  are  saved  from  the  guilt 
and  danmation  of  sin,  by  the  merits  and  grace  of  the 
Jvord  Jesus  Christ,  received  in  the  exercise  of  peni- 
tence and  faith,  in  unioiL  with  his  church,  by  the  par- 
ticipation of  its  sacraments  and  ordinances  from  the 
hands  of  her  authorized  ministry,  distinguished  the 
church  in  her  first  and  purest  state.  It  is  the  iniiver- 
.s«/ reception  of  this  principle,  which,  alo7ie,  (in  1820,) 
can  restore  purity  and  unity  to  that  Christian  family, 
which  is  now  deformed  and  distracted  by  heresies  and 
schisms." 

If  a  simple  layman  might  presume  to  offer  counsel 
in  these  high  matters,  I  would  suggest  the  propriety  of 
making  one  single  experiment,  to  wit :  endeavouring  to 
build  up  the  American-Anglo-Church,  by  outpreach- 
ing,  outpraying,  and  outliving  the  clergy  of  all  other 
denominations;  instead  of  consigning  to  uncovenanted 
perdition,  all  who  have  not  been  so  fortunate  as  to  re- 
ceive the  sacrament  of  baptism  from  an  authorized 
bishop,  priest,  or  deacon.  The  scheme  of  exclusive 
churchmanship  has  been  tried  now,  for  at  least  thirty 
years,  and  the  American-Anglo-Church  still  halts 
fearfully  in  the  rear  of  other  religious  sects ;  for  ex- 
ample, the  presbyterians,  the  congrcgatioualists,  the 
baptists,  and  the  methodists. 

Seeing,  then,  that  this  intolerant,  uncharitable  sys- 
tem of  theology  has  not  rendered  the  church  equal  to 
other  communions,  why  not  endeavour  to  bring  up 
her  lee  way,  by  avoiding  all  disputes  about  unes- 
sentials,  and  directing  all  their  strength  to  obey  the 
emphatic  command  of  the  Redeemer — "  preacli  the 
Gospel  ?" 

It  is  high  time  for  all  denominations  of  professing 
Christians  to  know,  that  practical  Christianity  is  some- 


444  CHIIISTIANITY — CLERGY. 

thitig  more  than  either  mere  morality,  or  the  mere 
government  order,  rites,  and  ceremonies  of  any  parti- 
cular church ;  or  than  both  these  combined.  It  im- 
plies a  right  state  of  the  heart,  thoughts  being  ac- 
tions in  the  eye  of  God,  corresponding  to,  and  im- 
pelling the  external  acts  of  piety  and  devotion ;  in 
which  state  of  the  heart,  alien  to  man  by  nature,  and 
created  by  spiritual,  not  baptismal,  regeneration,  the 
real,  the  spiritual  essence  of  religion  consists. 

It  is  likewise  to  be  remembered,  that  in  Christian 
communities,  the  clergy  are  the  general  channels  of 
good,  or  evil,  to  the  surrounding  people.  An  evan- 
gelical clergy  is  continually  gathering  converts  to 
God  out  of  the  world,  and  building  up  the  church. 
of  Christ  in  purity  and  strength ;  whereas,  a  formal 
priesthood,  however  authorized,  merely  collects  an 
assembly  of  worldlings,  whom  it  encourages  to  rely 
for  salvation  on  some  supposed  external  privileges ; 
and,  eventually,  both  priest  and  people  go  to  their 
own  place. 

Now,  allowing  that  the  balance  of  the  argument 
drawn  from  the  New  Testament,  together  with  the 
whole  current  of  historical  evidence,  is  in  favour  of 
the  position,  that  episcopacy  was  the  primitive  and 
apostolic  order  of  the  government  and  discipline  of 
the  visible  church,  there  is  no  reason  that  we  should 
therefore  nourish  a  spirit  of  sectarian  and  exclusive 
bigotry,  and  presume  that  eternal  salvation  is  con- 
fined to  that  particular  religious  persuasion ;  seeing, 
that  many  of  the  wisest  and  best  men  that  ever  lived, 
have  argued  ably,  and  acted  conscientiously,  upon  other 
and  far  different  views. 

Can  we  be  so  iron-hearted,  as  archbishop  Wake 
and  bishop  Andrews  call  it,  as  to  deny  real  religion, 
and  eternal  life,  through  the  sacrifice,  the  righteous- 
ness, and  the  intercession  of  the  Son  of  God,  to 
such  men  as  Luther,  and  Calvin,  and  Claude,  and 
Owen,  and  Baxter,  and  Watts,  and  Doddridge,  and 
Edwards,  and  Davies,  and  innumerable  multitudes 
of  burning  and  shining  lights,  who,  in  their  allotted 


COVENANT    OF    GRACE.  445 

hour,  were  made  the  blessed  instruments  of  awakening 
their  fellow-sinners  to  a  sense  of  their  own  guilt  by  na- 
ture ;  and  thence  leading  them  to  the  foot  of  the  cross 
for  forgiveness,  and  reconciliation  with  God  ? 

Are  such  men,  of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy, 
to  be  excluded  from  Christian  fellowship ;    to  be  shut 
out   from  the  communion   of  tlie  saints ;    to   be    con- 
signed over  to   the  uncovenanted  mercy  of  God  ?    Is 
not    the    covenant  of  grace,  made   with    all    true  be- 
lievers? with  all   those  who,   feeling  themselves  to  be 
sinners,  flv  unto  God  for  mercy,  through  Christ ;   and 
to  whom  God  gives  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  first  rege- 
nerates,  and    then   progressively  sanctifies  them,  both 
in   heart  and  in  life  ?   with   all  those  who  find  peace 
from   tlie    Son  of  God,   and  from  tlie  Spirit  of  God  ; 
from    tlie   Lord   Jesus  Christ,    forgiveness ;    from   the 
Holy    CThost,    sanctification  ?     witli    all    those,    who, 
under    the    sanctifying   influences   of    the    Spirit,    are 
assured,   that  although  sin  still  remains  lurking  in  the 
deeper    folds,    and   buried   in    the   inmost   recesses   of 
the  heart,  it  shall  not  regain  dominion,  nor  shall  they 
come  into   condemnation  :   but   being  accepted  in  the 
beloved,   shall  give  evidence  of  what  manner  of  spirit 
is  in   them,  by  wishing  what  the  Father  wishes,  and 
hating   what  the  Father   hates  ?   with    all   those   who 
study   the   Holy   Scriptures,   with   prayer   for   forgive- 
ness  through  the   I^ord  Christ,    for   assurance   of  par- 
don through  the    Holy  Spirit,  and  for  grace  to  obey 
the  commandments   of  God  ;  seeing,   that   the  gift  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  is  promised  to  all  those,  who,  despair- 
ing of  themselves,  rest  for  righteousness  on  the  Son  of 
of  God  ? 

Is  not  salvation  altogether  individual  ?  can  one 
man  be  saved  by  another's  faith,  or  damned  by 
another's  works  ?  The  declaration  of  Jehovah  him- 
self is,  "  he  that  believeth,  shall  be  saved  ;  he  that 
believeth  not,  shall  be  damned."  Erasmus,  when  he 
became  acquainted  witli  the  persecuted  puritans,  in 
England,  exclaimed,  "  may  1  live  their  life,  and  die 
their  death  !" 


446  TIEiNllY    MAllTVX. 

That  saint,  Henry  JNlartyn,  who  was,  himself,  one  of 
the  firmest  and  brigljtcst  pillars  of  the  Anglican 
Church,  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  intrepid,  zealous, 
faithful,  and  illustrious  of  all  Christian  warriors,  says  : 
"  the  ritual  of  the  Christian  churches,  their  POod 
forms,  and  every  thing  they  have,  is  a  mere  shadow, 
without  the  power  of  truth  ;  but  it  is  impossible  to 
convince  the  people  of  the  world,  (the  pharisees  and 
formalists,)  that  what  tJicy  call  religion,  is  merely  a 
thing  of  their  own,  having  no  connexion  with  God 
and  his  kingdom.  How  senseless  is  the  zeal  of 
churchmen  against  dissenters,  and  of  dissenters  against 
the  church  !  The  kingdom  of  God  is  neither  meat,  nor 
drink,  nor  any  thing  perishable  ;  but  righteousness, 
and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  is  an  afflict- 
ed and  poor  people  that  shall  call  upon  the  name  of  the 
^Lord ;  not  those,  who,  professing  themselves  to  be  wise, 
have  become  fools." 

And  JMr.  JNIartyn's  admirable  biographer  observes, 
that  "  a  love  for  particular  popular  preachers,  a  fiery 
zeal  in  religion,  a  vehement  excitation  of  the  animal 
feelings,  as  well  as  rigid  austerities,  are  false  critcrions 
of  genuine  piety ;  and  are  in  full  perfection  among  the 
real  followers  of  the  crescent,  as  well  as  among  the  pre- 
tended disciples  of  the  cross." 

The  controversy  is  worse  than  idle,  as  to  which  is 
the  exclusive  church  that  holds  the  monopoly  of  sal- 
vation. The  aj^giimentum  ad  modcstiam,  as  to  num- 
bers, ought  to  deter  very  many  religious  sects  from 
arrogating  to  themselves  such  a  presum})tuous  claim. 
There  are  about  two  hundred  millions  of  nominal 
Christians  in  the  world ;  of  which  ten  millions  re- 
pose in  the  bosom  of  the  Anglican  and  Amcrican- 
Anglo-Churches.  Are  the  other  one  hundred  and 
ninety  millions,  to  say  nothing  of  the  eight  hundred 
millions  of  Mahometans  and  Pagans,  swarming  upon 
the  surfjice  of  the  earth,  all  consigned  to  remediless 
perdition  ? 

There  are  not  ten  millions  of  any  other  single 
protestant    denomination,    wliether    of    prcsbytcrians, 


CIIURCII    OF    CIIUIST.  447 

of  congrcgatioiialists,  or  of  methodists;  and  are  all 
other  Christian  persuasions  utterly  lost,  excepting 
the  little  handful  oi  methodistical,  or  congregational, 
or  presbyterian  candidates  for  heaven  ?  Are  the 
exclusive  churchmen  aware  how  much  tJieir  theory 
is  in  accordance  with  the  claims  of  that  elderly  lady, 
who  is  dressed  in  scarlet,  and  drunk  with  the  blood  of 
the  saints? 

The  fatal  mistake  of  every  religious  body  has  been, 
to  assume  to  itself,  to  its  own  little  peculiar  sect,  the 
exclusive  title  of  "  the  church  of  Christ."  Papal 
Rome  very  charitably  devotes  all  denominations  out  of 
her  own  pale,  to  eternal  death  ;  and  very  wisely 
urges  this  truly  cathoHc  spirit,  as,  m  itself,  a  proof  of 
her  being  the  only  true  church.  The  high  formalists 
of  the  Anglican  and  American- Anglo-Churches,  with 
great  complacency,  consign  all  nonepiscopalians  to  un- 
covenanted  perdition.  So,  the  bigots  and  pliarisees 
of  all  persuasions,  baptists,  methodists,  presbyterians, 
independents,  covenanters,  and  so  forth,  hedge  the 
Christian  church  within  their  own  minute  respective 
circles. 

The  church  of  Christ  consists  of  all  faithful  be- 
lievers in  him,  by  whatever  outward  name  or  sym- 
bol known,  wheresoever  located,  or  scattered,  and 
howsoever  worshipping,  and  adoring  him ;  provided 
they  are  regenerated  and  quickened  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  give  external  evidence  of  their  faith  by 
a  life  of  holiness,  dedicated  to  the  service  and  glory 
of  God  the  Father,  God  the  Son,  and  God  the  Holy 
Ghost.  One  of  the  propositions  of  the  pious  Ques- 
uel,  condemned  in  1713,  by  the  formahsm  of  the  Ro- 
man church,  in  the  bull  unigenitus,  "  as  false,  cap- 
tious, shocking,  offensive  to  pious  ears,  scandalous, 
pernicious,  rush,  injurious  to  the  church — that  is,  the 
popish  sect, — and  her  practice  ;  contumelious,  not 
only  against  the  church,  but  likewise,  against  the  secu- 
lar powers ;  seditious,  impious,  blasphemous,  here- 
tical, and  uianifestly  reviving  several  heresies,"  runs 
in    these  words;  *'  what   is  tlie   church,   but   the  con- 


44.8  ALT.    SECTS    FXCI.USIVE. 

gregation  of  the  children  of  God,   adopted  in   Christ, 
redeemed    by   his  blood,  living  by    liis    spirit,    acting 
by  his    grace,    and  expecting  the  grace  of  the   world, 
to  come  ?" 

But,  notwithstanding  this  Scriptural,  and  truly 
evangelical  doctrine,  the  many  various  religious  sects, 
which  divide  and  agitate  Christendom,  still  persist 
in  urging  their  respective  claims  to  exclusive  church- 
manship.  The  papists  profess  to  find  in  the  Scrip- 
tures their  own  Saint  Peter  and  his  omnipotent 
keys ;  their  mass  and  transubstantiation ;  their  au- 
ricular confession  and  purgatory ;  their  infallibility ; 
their  right  to  stifle  all  opposition  to  the  papal  will  in 
the  tears  and  blood  of  their  mangled,  mutilated 
victims. 

The     exclusive     Anglican     and     American-Anglo 
churchmen   demonstrate  from  the  Bible  the  three  or- 
ders   of  bishops,    priests,    and    deacons,   in  lineal   de- 
scent  from    the   apostles,    and   unchurch,   uncovenant, 
and  unchristianize   all  other  denominations,   who  deny 
or  doubt    this   demonstration.     In  the   same  revealed 
word  of  God,  the   presbyterians  discover  a  parity   of 
ministers,  and   their   own    peculiar   form   of  ecclesias- 
tical government ;      the    independents    discern,     that 
every  separate  congregation  is,    in  itself,    a    separate, 
and  distinct  church,  amenable  to  no  other  or  higher 
clerical   tri])unal ;     the   methodists    find,    beyond    all 
possibility  of  a   peradventure,   that   the    protomartyr, 
Stephen,    was    the    first  local  preacher  in  tlieir  com- 
munion ;  and  the  sine  nomine  secta  perceives  a  very 
clear  revelation  from    heaven,    that  the   New  Testa- 
ment proscribes  all   clergy,  of  every  order,  sort,  and 
kind ;  and  permits  none  but  laymen,  who  have  some 
secular  occupation   during    the    weekdays,   as  tinkers, 
weavers,    cobblers,    et  id  genus  omne,  to  be  teachers 
and  preachers,  and  expounders  of  the  law  and  Gospel, 
on  the  Sabbath. 

Dean  Paley,  in  his  sermon  on  the  distinction  of 
orders  in  the  church,  states  his  opinion,  that  the 
Scriptures    mark    out  no  particular    form    of    church 


NO    EXCLUSIVE    CHURCH.  ,  44-9 

government ;  and  that  the  New  Testament  prescribes 
no  particular  gradations  of  priesthood  to  be  observed 
throughout  Christendom  ;  but  that  each  age,  and  coun- 
try, and  community,  is  left  at  liberty  to  model  its  own 
church,  both  internally  and  externally,  according  to  its 
own  notions  of  propriety  and  expediency. 

However  this  may  be,  one  thing  is  certain  ;  that 
there  is  no'  exclusive  church,  to  the  professing  mem- 
bers of  which  eternal  salvation  is  exclusively  confined. 
For  it  is  manifest,  that  divine  Providence  blesses  every 
sect  and  denomination  of  Christians  among  whom  the 
doctrines  of  the  cross  are  faithfully  preached  ;  whether 
they  be  episcopalian,  or  presbyterian,  or  congregational. 
All  these  religious  bodies  have  been  blessed,  as 
instruments  in  the  hand  of  God,  and  under  the 
quickening,  sanctifying  influences  of  the  spirit,  to 
the  conversion  of  sinners,  the  purifying  of  the  life  and 
conduct,  and  the  salvation  of  souls  ;  as  is  evident,  by 
a  cloud  of  witnesses,  in  different  ages,  and  in  every 
clime. 

Now,  if  any  one  church,  whether  Greek,  or  Latin, 
or  protestant,  either  as  a  whole,  or  in  any  of  its  various 
parts,  subdivisions,  or  sects,  were  an  exclusive  church  ; 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  the  Head  of  the 
church,  would  not  bless  the  ministers  of  any  other 
denominations  with  his  presence,  nor  aid  them  with  the 
illuminations  of  his  spirit.  It  behoves  us,  therefore, 
to  extend  a  catholic  spirit  of  love,  esteem,  and  reverence, 
towards  all,  of  whatsoever  denomination  or  persuasion, 
who  preach  Jesus  Christ,  and  him  crucified,  in  purity 
of  doctrine,  in  singleness  of  heart,  in  simplicity,  and  in 
truth. 

A  good  old  divine  says  :  "  I  have  seen  a  field  here, 
and  another  there,  stand  thick  with  corn.  An  hedge 
or  two  has  parted  them.  At  the  proper  season  the 
reapers  entered.  Soon  the  earth  was  disburthened, 
and  the  grain  was  conveyed  to  its  destined  place; 
where  blended  together  in  the  barn,  or  in  the  stack,  it 
could  not  be  known  that  a  hedge  once  separated  this 
corn  from  that.     Thus  it  is  with   the  church.     Here 

2   G 


450        ,  NAME    OF    CHRIST. 

it  grows,  as  it  were,  in  different  fields,  severed,  it  may 
be,  by  various  hedges.  By  and  by,  when  the  harvest  is 
come,  all  God's  wheat  shall  be  gathered  into  the  garner, 
without  one  single  mark  to  distinguish  that  once  they 
differed  in  the  outward  circumstantials  of  modes  and 
forms." 

If  there  were  an  exclusive  church,  membership  in 
which  is  essential  to  salvation,  and  all  out  of  its 
pale  were  consigned  to  perdition,  or  left  to  an  un- 
covenanted  contingency,  it  is  fair  to  infer,  that  tlic 
Holy  Spirit  would  have  revealed  it  in  the  word  of 
God,  as  plainly  as  he  has  revealed  any  other  truth, 
belief  in  which  is  necessary  to  salvation ;  as  for  ex- 
ample :  "  thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all 
thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy 
strength ;"  or,  "  he  that  believeth  (in  Christ  Jesus,) 
shall  be  saved ;  he  that  believeth  not,  shall  be 
damned."  But,  as  this  is  not  done,  does  it  become 
Christians,  who  profess  to  serve  one  and  the  same 
Master,  to  love  one  common  Lord,  to  condemn  those 
who  differ  from  them  in  opinion  about  church  order, 
and  church  government,  about  external  ceremonies, 
rites,  and  discipline  ? 

It  would  be  well,  if  formalists  of  all  denominations 
would  remember,  that  when  our  Lord  and  Master 
declared,  that  whenever  two  or  three  should  be  ga- 
thered together  in  his  name,  he  would  be  in  the  midst 
of  them  ;  he  did  not  say,  two  or  three  episcopalians,  or 
two  or  three  presbyterians,  or  two  or  three  congregation- 
alists  ;  but  simply,  when  two  or  three  are  gathered  to- 
gether in  my  name.  The  main  stress  is  laid  upon  the 
all-important  point  of  being  gathered  together  in  His 
name,  and  not  in  the  name  of  any  particular  religious 
persuasion  or  sect. 

In  some  periods  of  the  English  history,  the  contro- 
versies, as  to  the  modes,  and  forms,  and  orders  of 
ecclesiastical  polity,  prevailed  so  mucli,  and  raged 
so  fiercely,  as  almost  entirely  to  extinguish  the  light 
of  Christian   charity   among   those,    who   nevertheless 


CnUROH    CONTROVERSY.  451 

professed  to  believe  in  the  same  Lord  iind  JNIaster. 
This  was  particularly  the  case  in  the  reigns  of  Eliza- 
beth, and  the  four  first  Stuarts,  Indeed,  during  the 
time  of  tlie  two  Charleses,  so  much  was  written  and 
said,  on  cither  side,  concerning  tlie  form  of  clnirch 
government,  that  it  became  of  more  importance  in 
the  eyes  of  the  unreflecting  multitude,  than  the  doc- 
trines of  that  Gospel  of  peace,  wliich  both  churches  pro- 
fessed to  embrace. 

The  more  violent  of  the  prelatists  and  presby- 
terians  were  as  illiberal  and  intolerant  as  the  papists 
themselves,  and  permitted  no  salvation  beyond  the 
narrow  circle  of  their  own  respective  sects.  It  was 
altogether  in  vain  to  inform  these  zealots,  that  if  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  author  and  founder  of  our  holy 
religion,  had  considered  any  peculiar  form  of  church 
order  and  government,  as  indispensably  necessary  to 
salvation,  he  would  have  revealed  it  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament, with  the  same  perspicuity  and  precision  as 
he  revealed  that  of  the  Jewish  polity,  under  his  elder 
and  more  imperfect  dispensation,  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. 

Both  parties  were  as  violent  and  fierce,  as  if  they 
could  plead  a  distinct  revelation  from  heaven,  at 
once  to  command  and  justify  their  own  intolerance. 
The  execrable  Laud,  in  the  day  of  his  dominion 
over  his  infatuated  master  and  a  subservient  cler- 
gy, fired  the  train,  not  only  by  his  cold-blooded 
cruelties  inflicted  upon  the  English,  but  also  by  im- 
posing upon  the  Scottish,  church  ceremonies,  and 
forms,  and  orders,  foreign  to  their  habits,  and  alien 
from  their  opinions.  This  ecclesiastical  tyranny  was 
successfully  resisted,  and  the  presbyterian  model  fi- 
nally established  in  Scotland ;  from  whose  national 
church  episcopalians,  seceders,  and  other  religious  sects, 
dissent. 

In  our  own  days,  in  these  United  States,  controversy 
has  been  rife  respecting  ecclesiastical  polity.  The  chief 
champions  of  episcopacy  are  tlie  late  Dr.  Bowden,  bi- 

2g2 


452  DH.    HOW — MILLENNIUM. 

shop  Hobart,  an  J.  Dr  How.  The  presbyterian  form 
of  church  government  was  defended  by  Dr.  Mason, 
and  Dr.  Miller.  Dr.  How  labours  to  prove,  that  con- 
troversy is  the  life  and  soul  of  religion ;  and  that  to  it, 
principally,  is  the  episcopal  church  indebted  for  its 
growth  in  the  United  States ;  and  that  by  its  aid  epis- 
copacy will  cover  the  whole  earth,  about  the  time  when 
the  Millennium  first  sets  in. 

But  it  may  be  doubted,  if  continual  controversy  do 
not  call  up  feelings,  and  tempers,  and  dispositions, 
far  other  than  those  which  characterize  the  servant 
and  disciple  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  to  be 
feared,  that  controversy,  in  general,  does  not  answer  to 
the  apostles  description  of  charity ;  and  it  is  a  consuni- 
mation  devoutly  to  be  wished,  that  the  only  controversy 
among  Christians  were,  who  should,  most  faithfully, 
zealously,  and  constantly,  in  season  and  out  of  season, 
preach  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified,  as  the  only 
foundation  of  present  peace,  and  future  hope,  and  eter- 
nal safety,  to  individuals ;  as  the  only  source  of  domestic, 
social,  and  national  concord,  joy,  prosperity,  strength, 
and  honour. 

There  are  some  fine  and  forcible  observations  in 
Dr.  Mason's  "  Plea  for  catholic  communion  upon 
catholic  principles,"  upon  the  evil  of  rending  the 
unity  of  the  Christian  church  by  contests  about  mi- 
nute and  unimportant  points  of  difference  among 
those  who  agree  in  all  the  essential  doctrines  of  Re- 
velation. He  shows,  with  great  ability,  and  much 
learning,  that  the  love  of  unity,  and  the  horror  of 
schism,  prevailed  in  the  hearts  of  all  the  best  and 
brightest  Christians  of  the  primitive  ages,  and  shone 
out  with  renewed  lustre  in  the  saints  and  heroes  of 
the  Reformation,  and  their  followers  of  succeeding 
generations;  that  the  Luthers  and  Calvins,  the  Me- 
lancthons,  and  Bucers,  and  Martyns,  the  Dutch, 
French,  and  Swiss  churches,  and  the  evangelical 
interest,  generally,  were  desirous  of  basing  the  com- 
munion of  the  church  upon  the  broad  foundation   of 


CATHOLIC    COMMUNION.  45rj 

the  common  faith,  without  regard  to  minor  difFerences, 
and  tliat  it  will  never  be  well  with  Christendom  until 
an  union  be  endeavoured  and  effected  between  all  those 
who  are  ortliodox  in  doctrine,  though  diflPering  among 
themselves  in  some  circumstances  about  church  govern- 
ment. 

And  surely,  a  Christian  spirit  and  temper  are  in- 
finitely preferable  to  all  controversies  respecting 
matters  not  essential  to  salvation.  Far  better  would 
it  bo  for  all  real  Christians,  whether  Calvinistic  or 
Arminian,  whether  episcopalian,  or  presbyterian,  or 
congregational,  to  cease  their  disputations  upon  ex- 
treme points  of  doubtful  construction  and  unintelli- 
gible abstruseness,  about  discipline,  and  habits,  and 
ceremonies,  and  external  rites  and  observances  ;  and 
to  unite  all  their  forces  in  harmonious  combination, 
against  the  real  enemies  of  their  common  faith,  whe- 
ther open  or  secret ;  against  atheists  and  deists, 
against  Arians  and  Antinomians,  against  Socinians 
and  formalists;  to  uphold  the  doctrines  of  the 
cross ;  to  strip  off  the  mask  of  self-righteousness 
from  the  formal  pharisee ;  and  to  expose  the  impiety 
and  blasphemy  of  the  avowed  opponents  of  Reve- 
lation. 

JNIemorable,  says  the  preface  to  the  "  Jus  divinumr 
is  the  story  of  bishop  Ridley  and  bishop  Hooper,  two 
famous  martyrs,  who,  when  they  were  out  of  prison, 
disagreed  about  certain  ceremonial  garments,  but  when 
they  were  put  into  prison,  they  quickly  and  easily 
agreed  together.  Adversity  united  them,  whom  pro- 
sperity divided. 

We,  certainly,  do  prefer  the  union  of  all  Christian 
denominations,  in  their  efforts  to  evangelize  the 
world,  to  all  assertions  of  the  exclusive  claims  of 
episcopacy  to  covenant  mercy,  and  the  consequent 
condemnation  of  all  nonepiscopal  communions,  to  a 
state  and  condition,  no  better,  if  not  worse,  than  that 
of  the  heathens,  who  never  heard  the  sound  of  the 
glorious  Gospel.  It  must,  in  very  deed,  be  an  iron 
heart,  to  say  nothing  of  the  head  piece,  which  would 


454  lOllMAL    MONOrOLIKS. 

degrade,  unchurch,  unchristen,  all  other  protcstant 
persuasions,  the  papists  being  cordially  embraced  as 
brother  episcopalians,  and  proscribe  them  as  having 
no  sacraments,  no  covenant  right  to  salvation,  for 
want  of  a  ministry  derived  by  an  uninterrupted  suc- 
cession of  episcopal  ordination  from  the  apostles. 

All  formalists,  of  every  religious  persuasion,  are 
prone  to  set  up  a  monopoly  of  salvation  for  themselves  ; 
from  which  they  vigorously  exclude  every  one,  who 
cannot,  or  will  not,  pronounce  their  shibboleth.  In 
Christendom,  the  papists  are  supposed  to  be  most 
strenuous  in  asserting  their  exclusive  church  privi- 
leges on  earth,  and  for  heaven.  The  Hindu  brahmun, 
perhaps,  is  equally  charitable,  when  he  denies  the  pos- 
sibility of  future  happiness  to  any  Christian  faith  and 
holiness,  unless  the  candidate  for  immortality  occasion- 
ally refreshes  himself  with  a  naked  seat  on  tenpenny 
nails. 

But  the  Jews  themselves  were  signal  examples  of 
this  exclusive,  formal  disposition.  At  the  advent  of 
the  ^lessiah,  these  people  maintained  the  exterior  of 
piety,  although  the  power  of  godliness  was  lost. 
Their  chief  priests,  and  popular  leaders,  Josephus 
describes  as  profligate  wretches,  who  had  purchased 
their  places  by  bribes,  or  other  iniquitous  acts  ;  and 
maintained  their  authority  by  the  most  flagitious 
crimes.  Their  religious  creed  was  split  up  into  va- 
rious sects,  which  were,  all  of  them,  more  intent  on 
the  gratification  of  private  enmity,  than  the  advance- 
ment of  piety,  or  the  promotion  of  the  public  wel- 
fare. The  subordinate  members  followed  the  cor- 
ruption of  their  head  ;  ihe  priests,  and  Levites,  and 
all  the  inferior  clergy,  were  most  abandoned  and  disso- 
lute ;  while  the  laity,  profiting  by  their  clerical 
example,  plunged  into  every  species  of  depravity, 
and  drew  down  the  vengeance  of  God  upon  their  de- 
voted land. 

Yet  were  these  Jews  the  very  stancliest  formal- 
ists; attached  to  the  ^losaic  ritual  ;  and  the  tradi- 
tions   of  their    elders,    with    a    maniac  fanaticism  and 


JEWISH    FORMALISTS.  455 

zeal.  These  hypocrites  assumed  the  most  saiicti- 
moiiious  appearances  before  the  world ;  uttering  their 
set  forms  of  long  and  loud  prayers  at  the  corners  of 
crowded  streets;  publicly  parading  their  rehgion  and 
their  almsgiving,  yet,  in  private,  exercising  themost  hor- 
rible cruelty  and  oppression  ;  devouring  widows'  houses, 
robbing  the  orphan,  perpetually  bawling  out,  the  temple 
of  tlic  Lord,  the  temple  of  the  Lord !  paying  tithe  of 
mint,  anise,  and  cummin,  to  support  the  splendour  of 
the  priesthood  ;  and,  in  practical  Ufe,  violating  the 
first  duties  of  morality,  justice,  faithfulness,  and 
mercy. 

Tlieir  great  men  were  incredibly  depraved;  many 
of  them  "Sadducees  in  principle,  and  in  practice ; 
profligate  sensualists ;  more  abandoned  than  the 
corrupted  ages  of  the  heathen  world ;  vieing,  which 
should  surpass  each  other  in  impiety  against  God, 
and  injustice  towards  man.  They  compassed  sea 
and  land  to  proselyte  the  pagans;  and  when  they 
had  gained  a  convert,  they  soon  rendered  him  a  two- 
fold child  of  hell;  making  him,  by  their  own  scan- 
dalous example,  more  profligate  than  before  his  con- 
version. 

The  circumstance  of  their  nation  having  been 
blessed  with  a  direct  revelation  from  God,  instead  of 
expanding,  narrowed  their  minds  into  all  the  bitter- 
ness of  theological  hatred.  They  regarded  the  un- 
circumcised  heathens  mth  sovereign  scorn ;  and 
branded  them  as  enemies  of  Jehovah,  because  they 
were,  by  birth,  aliens  from  the  commonwealth  of  Is- 
rael, and  lived  strangers  to  their  covenant  of  pro- 
mise. They  would  not  eat  with,  nor  do  the  least 
act  of  kindness  for,  nor  hold  any  social  intercourse  with 
them. 

Hence,  they  could  not  endure  the  calling  of  the 
(ientiles  to  participate  in  the  Christian  salvation ; 
wherefore,  the  apostles,  particularly  Paul,,  laboured 
to  confirm  this  point  by  reference  to  numerous  pro- 
phecies in  the  Old  Testament.  In  the  true  spirit  of 
exclusive   churchnuiiiship,  also,  they    professed   to  be- 


456  llOMAN    AND    ANGLICAN    CHURCHES. 

lieve,  that  all  Jews  would  infallibly  be  saved ;  and 
that  Abraham  sits  near  the  gates  of  hell,  and  does 
not  permit  any  Israelite,  however  wicked,  to  descend 
thither. 

The  Rev.  Samuel  Wix,  likewise,  is  too  stout  an 
exclusive  churchman,  to  desire  to  conciliate,  or  unite 
with  any  protestant  dissenters.  He  prefers  coales- 
cing with  the  pope,  to  uniting  with  any  nonepiscopa- 
lian,  however  sound  in  Scriptural  doctrine ;  how- 
ever fervent  in  evangelical  faith  ;  however  pure  and 
holy  in  a  life  regulated  by  the  precepts  of  his  bless- 
ed Redeemer.  "  No,"  says  he,  "  the  union  is  not  de- 
sired between  members  of  the  (English)  church  and 
schismatics  ;  but  between  the  church  of  Rome  and 
the  church  of  England,  if,  indeed,  they  may  be  de- 
signated, as  churches  under  different  names.  Union 
is  not,  indeed,  nor  ought  to  be  desired  between  the 
true  apostolical  church,  and  those  who  renounce 
apostolical  discipline;  but  union  between  the  church 
of  England  and  the  church  of  Rome,  on  proper  Chris- 
tian grounds." 

Mr.  Wix  professes  to  be  struck  with  "  horror"  at 
the  schismatic  spirit  of  the  day,  and  says,  that  *'  no 
sound  catholic,  whether  of  the  church  of  England, 
or  of  the  church  of  Rome,  can  unite  with  protestants 
while  they  refuse  to  be  under  the  discipline  of  the 
church,  (Roman  or  Anglican?)  or  to  bow  to  its  faith." 
And  Mr.  Wix  discovers,  by  a  round  of  reasoning, 
doubtless  quite  satisfactory  to  himself,  and  perad- 
venture,  also,  to  the  papists,  that  "  the  impiety  of 
protestant  nonepiscopalians  are  far  more  injurious 
to  Gospel  truth,  than  the  errors  attaching  to  the  Ro- 
man catholic  faith." 

Protestant  impieties,  and   popish  errors?  but  ehcic 
jam  satis  est. 

Upon  these  asseverations,  somewhat  marvellous 
in  the  mouth  of  a  beneficed  clergyman  of  the  English 
church,  who  is  probably  on  his  way  to  the  episco- 
pate, the  Christian  Observer  thus  mildly  animad- 
verts :  now,    without    going  into    the   inquiry,  if  the 


LUTHERANS PvEFOllMEIlS.  457 

episcopal    form    of    cluircb    government    be    so     abso- 
lutely  essential,   tbat  none  can   be   witbin  tbe  pale  of 
Cbrist's    visible    cburcb,    wbo    bave    not    adopted  it  ; 
witbout  discussing  tbe   question,   wbctbcr    tbe   Socie- 
ty for  promoting   Cbristian  Knowledge   bas   irrepara- 
bly   injured    tbe   faitb    by  employing  Lutberan    mis- 
sionaries in  tbe  East  Indies  ;  and  wbetber  all   classes 
of  dissenters,    even    tbose  wbo  bold    tbe  doctrines  of 
tbe    cburcb    of    England,    are     scbismatics,    wbo    ac- 
knowledge  not    Cbrist    and    despise    bis    sacraments; 
altbougb  our  own  opinion  is  at  utter  variance  witb  tbat 
of  Mr.  Wix,   we  would  ask,  wby  not  attempt  to  bring 
over  to  tbe  establisbment,  tbose  wbo  maintain  substan- 
tially tbe  same  creed  but  bave  not  adopted  tbe  same 
discipline  ?     If  you  will  try  conciliation,  wby  not  begin 
witb  protestants  ? 

Wby  not,  indeed  ?  or  does  Mr.  Wix  tbink  it  safer, 
wiser,    and    more    consonant    to    Scripture,  to  seek  a 
family    alliance  witb  tbe  murderess  of   tbe    saints    of 
God,  ratber  tban  witb  Cbristian  communities?     Tbe 
Cbristian     Observer    expresses    bis    surprise     at    tbe 
marked   difference    of  tone  manifested   by   Mr.   Wix 
towards   many  classes   of  protestants,    from  tbat  used 
by  bim  towards  papists;    a    tone,    as    to   protestants, 
not  very  consistent  witb  cbarity  ;    and   as  to  papists, 
not   in    accordance   witb    tbat   of  our   most  venerated 
reformers  and  martyrs  ;  in  tbe  company  of  wbom,  Mr. 
Wix,  doubtless,  as  well  as  many  otber  stancb  forma- 
lists, botb    Anglican  and  American,  would  bave  found 
tbeir    sensibilities    grievously    outraged,     wben     tbose 
great    fatbers    of  tbe    P]nglisb    cburcb   spoke  out   tbe 
trutb  plainly,    and  witbout  disguise,  as  they  were  war- 
ranted  by  tbe  word  of  God,  against  tbe  impiety,  the 
blasphemy,  tbe  idolatry,  tbe  intolerance,  tbe  cruelty, 
tbe  blood-guiltiness  of  papal  Rome. 

Very  many  of  our  modern  exclusive  churchmen, 
besides  Mr.  Wix,  bold  in  entire  abhorrence  tbe  pro- 
tcstant  declarations  against  tbe  popish  scheme,  of 
such  men  as  Coverdale,  Philpot,  Taylor,  Rogers, 
Hooper,  Bale,  Ridley,  Latimer,  Cranmer,  and  others, 


458  BISHOP    lllDLEY. 

whose  sentiments  the  Christian  Observer  cites  as  being 
altogether  opposite  to  tliose  of  the  Vicar  of  St.  Bartho- 
lomew the  Less. 

Mr.  Wix's  notable  device  of  destroying  the  British 
and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  by  the  proposed  coali- 
tion of  the  ilnglican  and  lioman  churches,  will  re- 
ceive due  consideration,  when  we  examine  the  real 
grounds  of  the  present  deadly  hostiUty,  both  popish 
and  protestant,  European  and  American,  to  the  cir- 
culation of  the  pure,  unsophisticated  word  of  God, 
without  note,  and  without  comment ;  unincumbered 
with  the  help  of  any  mere  human  composition,  in  what- 
ever shape,  or  form,  or  substance. 

A  most  refreshing  contrast  to  the  modern  scheme 
of  exclusive  churchmanship,  may  be  found  in  the 
answer  of  bishop  Hidley,  during  his  last  examination 
before  the  popish  commissioners,  a  little  before 
they  burned  him  for  being  a  Christian.  "  I  acknow- 
ledge," says  this  blessed  reformer  and  martyr,  "  an 
unspotted  church  of  Christ,  in  the  which  no  man  can 
err,  without  the  which  no  man  can  be  saved,  wliich 
is  spread  tliroughout  all  the  world,  that  is,  the  con- 
gregation of  the  faithful ;  and  where  Christ's  sacra- 
ments are  duly  ministered,  his  Gospel  truly  preach- 
ed and  followed,  there  doth  Christ's  church  shine  as 
a  city  upon  a  hill.  I  am  fully  persuaded,  that  Christ's 
church  is  every  where  founded,  in  every  place  where 
his  Gospel  is  truly  received,  and  effectually  fol- 
lowed." 

It  is  utterly  vain  to  hope,  that  by  railing  at  other 
denominations,  and  claiming  a  monopoly  of  salva- 
tion for  episcopalians,  the  American-Anglo-Church 
can  ever  flourish  in  a  country,  where  all  religious 
sects  are  placed  on  equal  political  ground  ;  where 
the  social  institutions,  supporting  liberty,  both  civil 
and  clerical,  encourage  inquiry,  and  where  those 
people,  who  are  in  the  habit  of  reading  the  Scrip- 
tures for  themselves,  are  able  to  judge  what  minis- 
ters preach  the  Gospel,  and  what  ministers  neglect, 
or  pervert  that  sacred   duty ;  and,  who,  if  they  exa- 


CHRISTIAN    RIVALRY.  459 

mine  tlie  common  prayer  book,  may  easily  discover 
when  a  bishop,  priest,  or  deacon,  contradicts,  or 
neutralizes  the  evangelical  liturgy  of  the  Anglican 
Church ;  contradicts,  by  preaching  unscriptural  doc- 
trine; neutralizes,  by  keeping  back  the  doctrines  of 
grace. 

In  consequence,  when  these  inquirers  find  such 
a  clergyman,  and  search,  the  Scriptures,  where  they 
cannot  discover  the  dogma  of  exclusive  churchman- 
ship  ;  and  duly  appreciate  the  value  of  their  own  im- 
mortal souls,  they  are  apt  to  transfer  themselves  to 
some  church,  where  the  Gospel  is  preached ;  and  thus 
the  evangelical  sects  increase,  while  the  formal  com- 
munions diminish. 

It  is  portentous  of  evil,  if  the  spiritual  rulers  of  the 
Anglican  and  American-Anglo-Churches  cannot  so 
discern  the  signs  of  the  times,  as  to  discover,  that  nei- 
ther of  these  religious  bodies  can  .  possibly  flourish, 
by  merely  calumniating  other  Christian  persuasions, 
and  crying  out  continually,  "  the  church,  the  church  !" 
— "  the  temple  of  the  Lord,  the  temple  of  the 
Lord !"  which  clamour  is  almost  as  efficacious  as 
that  of  "  great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians  !"  Nor 
is  any  good  to  be  expected  from  incessantly  railing 
against  all  evangelical  piety,  "  as  fanaticism,  enthu- 
siasm, weakness,  irregularity,  Calvinism,  low  church- 
manship,  n^.ethodism,"  &c.  &c. 

The  existing  circumstances  of  the  world  preclude 
the  possibility  of  cmy  church  making  permanent  head- 
way, unless  by  outpreaching,  outpraying,  and  outliving 
other  denominations;  which,  in  fact,  is  the  o?z/?/ al- 
lowable rivalry  in  the  Christian  church.  Certainly,  if 
the  pulpits,  in  England  and  in  these  United  States,  be 
tauglit  to  resound  with  the  evangelical  doctrines  of 
the  articles,  homilies,  and  liturgy,  no  one  need  fear 
the  fate,  either  of  the  Anglican,  or  of  the  American- 
^Vnglo-Clnirch. 

Formalists  of  every  kind  consign  all  out  of  their 
own  pale  to  the  uncovenanted  mercies  of  God ;  that 
is,   in    other  words,  to  utter  damnation.     But   God's 


460  SALVATION    INDIVIDUAL. 

covenant  of  grace  is  with  individuals,  of  all  ages  and 
countries,  who  live  by  faith  in  Christ,  as  God  their 
righteousness ;  not  with  whole  churches.  For  even 
the  papists  themselves  do  not  presume  to  save, 
eternally,  all  within  their  own  pale,  though  all  out 
of  it  are  irretrievably  damned.  And  they  send  a 
goodly  number  of  their  devouter  brethren  into  purga- 
tory, as  a  preparation  for  heaven,  which  is  obtain- 
able only  after  enduring  a  quantum  meruit  of  burning 
and  torment. 

As  if  punishment  and  suffering,  in  themselves,  had 
any  tendency  to  produce  purity  of  life,  when  U7iac- 
companied  with  the  effectual  operations  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  !  As  if  an  unregenerate,  though  baptized  sinner 
would  be  the  better  fitted  to  enjoy  the  beatific  sanctity 
of  heaven,  by  being  cast  into  hell  fire,  for  a  season  ! 
As  if  an  unrenewed  heart  could  possibly  enjoy  the  holy 
delights  of  angels,  and  of  archangels,  and  of  the  spirits 
of  just  men  made  perfect,  and  of  all  the  company  of 
heaven  ! 

Salvation  is  individual,  not  congregational,  not 
clerical,  not  national.  Jewish  individuals,  not  the 
Jewish  church,  were  saved  by  faith  in  a  Messiah  to 
come,  under  the  Old  Testament  dispensation.  As  in- 
dividuals, not  any  particular  visible  church,  under  the 
Christian  scheme,  are  saved  by  faith  in  a  Messiah, 
already  come.  External  orders,  and  ordinances,  and 
government,  and  privileges,  and  discipline,  without 
a  personal  interest  in  the  all-sufficient  sacrifice  for 
sin,  will  avail  us  nothing,  except  to  increase  our 
condemnation  in  that  great  and  terrible  day,  when 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  shall  come  to  judge  the  quick 
and  the  dead,  in  the  presence  of  an  assembled  uni- 
verse. 

All  formalists,  whether  episcopal,  or  presbyterian, 
or  congregational,  make  their  own  church  order  the 
sum  and  substance  of  religion,  as  the  papists  do  the 
traditions  and  infallibility  of  their  corrupted  and 
schismatic  hierarchy ;  whereas  the  mere  frame  and 
outwork  of  the  order  and  government   of  any  eccle- 


CHURCH    ORDER.  461 

siastical  body  can  only  be  effectually  defended  and  pro- 
tected by  evangelical  religion,  keeping  watch  and 
ward  in  the  citadel  of  the  heart.  The  Jews  had  a 
theocratic  order  of  church  government,  a  reliance  upon 
which,  however,  did  7io/ prevent  them,  and  their  church, 
and  nation,  from  plunging  headlong  into  perdition. 


CHAPTER  V 


Baptismal  Regeneration. 


Another  tenet  of  modern  fashionable  theology  is 
baptismal  regeneration. 

Into  this  very  important  question,  which  Ues  at  the 
foundation  of  all  real  religion  at  present,  a  minute  in- 
quiry cannot  be  made ;  it  must  suffice  to  notice  briefly 
the  principal  writers  on  the  subject,  and  to  state  some  of 
the  most  obvious  objections  and  consequences  arising 
out  of  this  popish  tenet. 

Mr.  now  bishop  Mant,  at  first  insisted,  that  baptism 
was  always  regeneration,  if  duly  admijiistei'ed  ;  that  is, 
if  the  water  was  sprinkled,  and  the  service  read  by 
any  episcopally  ordained  priest,  whether  protestant, 
or  papist,  or  pelagian,  or  formalist,  or  Socinian,  or 
deist,  or  atheist.  But  afterwards,  when  grappled  with 
in  the  controversy  by  his  more  evangelical,  more  able, 
and  more  learned  brethren,  he,  in  effect,  gave  up  the 
whole  question,  by  saying,  that  baptism  was  rege- 
neration, if  duly  received;  that  is,  by  adults,  when 
receiving  it  by  faith  ;  a  position  denied  by  no  Christian 
sect  or  individual ;  but  quite  another  and  distinct  con- 
sideration from  the  baptismal  regeneration  of  infants. 

Without  wandering  into  any  metaphysical  subtleties, 
or  losing  ourselves  amidst  the  mazes  of  Biblical  cri- 
ticism, we  may  simply  ask,  if  baptism  be  always  re- 
generation, where  is  the  07ily  evidence  we  can  have 
of  spiritual  or  real  regeneration  ?  that  is  to  say,  a 
holy   life  in  all  who  have  been  episcopally   baptized. 


REAL    liEGKNERATION.  463 

Is  ba])tisnial  regeneration  proved  by  the  frowardness, 
the  disobedience,  the  rebeUion  against  all  authority, 
the  unsanctified  tempers  and  dispositions,  the  envy- 
ing strifes  and  bickerings  of  the  great  majority  of 
children  who  have  been  cpiscopally  christened?  by 
their  youth  of  dissipation  and  profligacy  ;  their  man- 
hood of  ambition  and  worldly  calculation  ;  their 
old  age  of  avarice,  and  discontent,  and  querulous- 
ness  ? 

These  are  not  the  fruits  of  regeneration,  as  exhi- 
bited in  the  word  of  God.  The  glorious  liberty  of 
the  children  of  God  is  the  being  freed  from  the  dark- 
ness of  unbelief,  and  the  bondage  of  moral  corrup- 
tion, and  translated  into  the  light  of  faith,  the  lire 
of  love,  and  the  law  of  righteousness.  The  strong 
holds  of  sin  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  self-righteous- 
ness on  the  other,  are  broken  down.  By  the  lost 
condition  of  our  nature,  we  are  insensible  of  our 
sinful  state,  and  ignorant  of  our  extreme  danger; 
impenitent,  and  unbelieving,  and  self-righteous, 
though  unholy.  From  this  legal,  formal  state  of  in- 
sensibility, impenitence,  unbelief,  self-righteousness, 
and  slavery  to  sin,  every  child  of  God  is  delivered  by 
the  effectual  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  who,  point- 
ing out  the  danger  of  original  and  actual  sin,  directs 
them  to  Christ  alone,  as  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the 
life.  No  longer  habitually  self-righteous,  they  grate- 
fully rest  upon  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  as  the 
sole  procuring  cause  of  their  acceptance  in  the  Father's 
sight;  while  they  labour  after  inward  conformity  to 
the  divine  image,  and  outward  conformity  to  the 
divine  law ;  being  well  aware,  that  without  holiness 
no  man  can  see  the  Lord ;  and  that  faith  without  works 
is  dead. 

An  unrenewed  person,  whether  episcopally  bap- 
tized or  not,  has  no  spiritual  sense;  no  hearing  of 
the  promises ;  no  perception  of  his  own  misery ;  no 
adequate  notion  of  God's  holiness,  nor  of  the  per- 
fect purity  of  the  divine  law,  nor  of  Christ,  as  an  ab 
solute    Saviour,  nor  of  the    Holy  Spirit,    as    the    re 


464  WOMAN    IN    TROUBLE. 

vealer  of  Christ  in  tlic  lieart ;  no  experience  of  the 
Father's  everlasting  love ;  no  communion  with  him 
through  the  ministrations  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  no 
feeling  of  grace,  producing  conviction,  comfort,  and 
sanctification ;  no  hungering  and  thirsting  after  spiri- 
tual enjoyments  and  assurances;  no  yearnings  of  the 
soul  after  the  blood,  and  righteousness  and  interces- 
sion of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  If  these  be  expe- 
rienced, they  are  indications  of  spiritual  life ;  if  not, 
mere  water  baptism,  however  administered,  is  no  re- 
generation. 

Nevertheless,  so  little  are  our  formalists  aware  of 
these  plain  Scriptural  truths,  that  recently,  one  of 
our  largest  divines,  when  applied  to  by  a  woman  in  his 
congregation,  who  was  labouring  under  deep  convictions 
of  sin,  and  desirous  of  receiving  some  spiritual  advice 
from  her  pastor,  gave  it  as  his  decided  opinion,  "  that 
she  had  no  occasion  for  a  change  of  heart,  because  her 
heart  xvas  changed  at  baptism." 

Upon  receiving  this  gracious  assurance,  the  wo- 
man retired,  leaving  our  doctor  delighted  with  the 
depth  of  his  own  divinity.  But,  as  her  mind  had 
been  actually  illumined  by  the  quickening  influences 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  she  soon  discovered  that  the  doc- 
tor's answer  was  not  exactly  calculated  to  direct  her 
steps  aright  in  the  Christian  course ;  and  some  time 
thereafter  waited  again  upon  her  high  priest,  and 
told  him  that  she  had  now  found  peace  in  believ- 
ing, and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  To  this  he  an- 
swered sharply  and  roughly,  "  that  she  was  under  a 
gross  delusion;  and  if  she  continued  such  a  weak 
fanatic,  she  would  soon  become  absolutely  crazy  ; 
that  when  she  was  baptized,  her  heart  received  all 
the  change  that  was  necessary ;  that  she  was  then 
justified,  and  nothing  remained  for  her  to  do,  but  to 
be  confirmed,  go  to  church,  occasionally  communi- 
cate, read  the  common  prayer  book,  and  lead  a  sober, 
moral  life ;  and  if  at  any  time  she  fell  from  her  bap- 
tismal state,  she  had  only  to  be  sorry  and  repent, 
which   would  bring    her  back   to   that  happy   condi- 


MATTIIKW    MEAD.  465 

tion  of  regeneration  and  justification  ;  and  slic  would 
go  to  heaven,  as  a  matter  of  course,  upon  her  covenant 
claim  of  communion  with  the  episcopal  church." 

The  poor  woman  finding  neither  consolation,  nor 
instruction,  from  such  popish,  semi-pelagian  doctrine, 
went  over  to  an  evangelical  prcsbyterian,  under  whose 
faithful  ministry  she  now  sits.  The  worthy  doctor  on 
being  told  that  such  conduct  on  his  part  was  calculated 
to  drive  all  serious  persons  from  the  episcopalian  into 
other  churches,  exclaimed,  "  so  much  the  better,  I 
would  have  all  enthusiasts  and  fanatics  leave  the 
church  ;  they  are  only  fit  to  be  presbyterians  and  me- 
thodists." 

Undoubtedly,  if  this  laudable  scheme  of  quenching 
all  the  operations  of  the  Spirit  of  God  be  steadily  per- 
severed in,  and  carried  into  full  effect,  the  American- 
u:Vnglo-Church  will  not  long  be  infected  with  any  taint 
of  Christianity  ;  but  will  soon  exhibit  one  entire  hideous 
uiass  of  sclf-riglitcous  formalism  ;  one  huge,  misshapen 
carcass  of  popish,  Pelagian  putrefaction. 

It  is  precisely  such  theologucs,  and  such  theology, 
that  impart  all  its  point  and  sting  to  the  following  anec- 
dote. "  An  Knglish  nobleman  said  to  JMatthew  JMead, 
the  nonconformist,  '  1  am  sorry,  sir,  that  we  have  not 
a  person  of  your  abilities  with  us  in  the  established 
church,  where  they  would  be  extensively  useful.'  '  You 
do  not,  my  lord,  require  persons  of  great  abilities  in 
the  establishment;  for  when  you  christen  a  child,  you 
regenerate  it  by  the  Holy  Ghost ;  when  you  confirm 
a  youth,  you  assure  him  of  God's  favour  and  the  for- 
giveness of  his  sins  ;  when  you  visit  the  sick,  you  ab- 
solve them  from  all  their  iniquities  ;  and  when  you  bury 
tlie  dead,  you  send  them  all  to  heaven.  Of  what  par- 
ticular service,  then,  can  great  abilities  be  in  your  com- 
munion ?'  ' 

There  are   other  divines   than   IMr.  INIead,  who  cer-  * 
tainly  act,  whatever  they  may  say,  as  if  they  thought 
talents  and    learning   were    quite  unnecessary   incum- 
brances to  "  a  regular  and  authorized  ministry," 

2  H 


466  DEAD    BAPTISM. 

A  thoroughgoing  formalist,  however,  is  not  so  decided 
an  enemy  to  talents  and  learning,  as  to  all  evangelical 
piety.  A  late  bishop  of  St.  David's  dissuaded  a  lady 
from  hearing  Mr.  Whitfield  preach,  lest  it  might  hurt 
her  nerves  ;  concluding,  doubtless,  that  preaching  the 
Gospel  might  alarm  those  who  are  not  used  to  it. 
INIuch  more  recently,  a  very  great  dignitary  in  the 
Anglican  Church  said  to  a  lady  of  quality,  who  trou- 
bled him  with  a  quotation  from  the  apostle  of  the  Gen- 
tiles ;  "  do  not  tell  me  of  St.  Paul,  madam  ;  it  would 
have  been  happy  for  the  church,  if  St.  Paul  had  never 
written  a  line  of  his  epistles." 

It  is  truly  lachrymable  to  think  how  early  supersti- 
tion and  formalism  began  to  encroach  on  the  simplicity 
and  spirituality  of  the  Gospel ;  and  to  lean  their  wliole 
weight  upon  the  mere  opus  operatum  of  external 
ordinances.  The  papists  soon  deemed  it  convenient  to 
represent  baptism  as  inseparably  connected  with  the 
absolute  and  plenary  forgiveness  of  sins ;  whence 
many  stout  believers  in  the  infallibility  of  the  bishop 
of  Rome,  wisely  postponed  the  being  baptized  to  the 
last  moment  of  life,  and  thus  made  sure  of  heaven. 
It  sometimes  happened,  however,  that  these  persons, 
by  delaying  their  baptism  too  long,  actually  died  un- 
baptized ;  in  which  case,  one  of  his  relations  or 
friends  was  baptized  in  the  dead  man's  stead ;  and 
the  priest  begged  God  to  accept  this  proxy  baptism, 
in  the  same  manner  as  if  it  had  been  administered  to 
the  principal,  when  living ;  and  thus  an  unbaptized 
dead  body  received  the  full  benefit  of  baptismal  regene- 
ration. 

The  best  divines,  including  the  fathers  and  founders 
of  the  Anglican  Church,  represent  baptism  as  ty- 
pical of  regeneration ;  and  as  the  initiatory  ordinance, 
by  which  persons,  whether  infant  or  adult,  are  in- 
corporated into  the  visible  church,  and  enrolled 
among  Christian  professors.  They  believe,  that  the 
administration  of  baptism  is,  sometimes,  attended  with 
the  real,  renewing  influences  of  the  Holy  Ghost ; 
which    influences    being    internal,    spiritual,    and    un- 


BAPTISM — WHAT.  467 

discernible   by   tbe  baptizer,   the   service   directs   him 
to  state  this  cliaritable  hope   of  the  church,  in  his  ad- 
dress  to  the  sponsors,  and  in  his  pixsuviptive  thanks- 
\  giving  to  God. 

They  do  not^  however,  pretend  to  bind  in  an  in- 
dissoluble cord  the  regenerating  grace  of  the  Spirit 
to  the  bare  administration  of  the  external  ordinance. 
They  leave  all  such  theology  to  the  church  of  Rome, 
which  consigns  to  especial  perdition  those  who  doubt, 
that  every  sacrament,  ipso  facto,  confers  grace  ex  opere 
opej'ato,  and  that  baptism,  in  particular,  impresses 
a  certain,  indelible,  spiritual  mark  upon  the  soul. 
Si  qiiis  dixerit,  says  the  council  of  Trent,  per  ipsa 
novce  legis  sacramenta,  ex  opere  operato,  non  con- 
fefri  gratiam,  &,c.  anatliema  sit.  Si  quis  dixerit, 
in  trihus  sacramentis,  baptis7?io,  scilicet,  confirma- 
tione,  et  ordine,  non  imprimi  char'acterem,  in  ani- 
md,  hoc  est  signum  aliquod  spirituale  et  indelihile, 
c^c,  anathema  sit. 

But  the  Anglican  Church,  except  as  Twi^represented 
by  her  formal  doctors,  holds  no  such  tenet.  She  defines 
a  sacrament  to  be  an  outward  and  visible  sign  of  an 
inward  and  spiritual  grace.  Baptism,  therefore,  is 
not,  in  itself,  regeneration,  but  only  its  sign  or 
type.  The  twenty-seventh  article  coincides  with  the 
church  catechism  in  this  respect,  when  it  says :  "  bap- 
tism is  not  only  a  sign  of  profession,  and  mark  of 
difference,  whereby  Christian  men  are  discerned  from 
others  that  be  not  christened  ;  but  it  is  also  a  sign 
of  regeneration,  or  new  birth,  whereby  as  by  an  in- 
strument, they  that  irccive  baptism  rightly,  are  grafted 
into  the  church."  Whence  it  appears,  that  baptism 
and  internal  regeneration  are  two  distinct  things, 
which,  although  they  may  sometimes  go  together,  yet 
do  not  necessarily,  nor  constantly  accompany  each 
other. 

Not  very  long  since,  one  of  our  chief  American- 
Anglo-Church  divines  issued  a  publication,  which 
deserves  notice  on  account   of  its  theology,  both  bap- 

2  H  2 


468  MODERN    THEOLOGY. 

tismal  and  other.  In  stating  the  meritorious  cause, 
and  the  conditions  of  our  acceptance  with  God,  the 
preacher  erects  a  scheme  of  salvation  directly  opposed 
to  that  set  forth  in  the  articles  and  homilies  of  the  An- 
glican Church ;  for  he  in  reality  ascribes  the  whole 
efficiency  to  our  own  performances  of  repentance,  faith, 
and  good  works. 

Now  the  English  reformers,  in  their  private  writings 
as  well  as  in  the  public  formularies  of  their  churcli,  ex- 
pressly declare  the  perfect  righteousness  of  Christ  to 
be  the  meritorious  cause,  the  sole  condition  of  our  ac- 
ceptance with  God.  They  represent  faith  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  gift  of  God  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 
as  the  only  effectual  mean  of  union  with  the  Re- 
deemer; and  repentance  from  sin,  and  a  holy  life,  they 
uniformly  describe  as  the  necessary  effects  of  that 
union.  The  word  of  God  promises  salvation  to  faith, 
because  it  unites  the  believer  to  Christ  in  liis  justifying 
righteousness ;  and  the  Scriptures  promise  salvation  to 
repentance  and  a  holy  life,  because  they  imply  faith  and 
are  its  fruits,  and  are  a  proof  of  union  witli  that 
Saviour,  who  is  God  our  righteousness,  and  God  our 
strength. 

The  Scriptures  require  us  to  believe  in  the  Son  of 
God  ;  to  believe  that  God  is  so  well  pleased  in  his 
beloved  Son,  as  to  require  notliing  from  the  sinner 
but  a  belief  of  the  truth  ;  to  receive  the  divine  evi- 
dence that  God  is  already  satisfied  in  the  sacrifice 
of  his  Son.  They  uniformly  assert,  that  no  profess- 
ing Christian  can  give  satisfactory  evidence  of  his 
interest  in  the  covenant  of  grace,  unless  he  live  by 
faith  in  the  Redeemer  ;  enjoy,  in  some  measure,  the 
consolations  of  the  Gospel,  and  exhibit  its  fruits  in  a 
holy  life  and  conversation  ;  in  love  to  God  and  love  to 
man. 

In  this  same  lucubration  it  is  asserted,  that  predes- 
tination only  means  God's  eternal  purpose  to  make 
certain  persons  episcopalians ;  in  the  same  manner 
as  t]ie  Roman  church  interprets  the  elect  of  God  to 
signify   nothing   more   than  papists.     "  It  maintains," 


ITvK  DESTINATION.  469 

says  the  writer,  "  on  a  just  construction,  the  0)lUj 
election  declared  in  Scripture,  the  election  of  Chris- 
tians, as  a  collective  body,  to  tlie  privileges  of  the 
(Gospel.  In  like  manner,  all  Christians  are  now  the 
chosen,  the  elect  of  God.  They  are  all,  hij  baptism, 
taken  out  of  the  world,  and  placed  in  Gods  holy 
church ;  received  into  covenant  with  him." 

That  is   to  say,    in   other  words,  the   elect  of  God 
are  all  those,  who  are  by  baptism   made  churchmen  ; 
for   the  writer  denies   the   validity  of  any  other  than 
episcopal  baptism  ;    and  scouts   the  possibility  of  any 
other    church     covenant    with   God.        He    invariably 
calls    the    episcopal    persuasion     "  the    church ; "     and 
denominates    episcopalians    "churchmen,"    par  excel- 
lence.    In   another    theological    production,    he    says ; 
"  adhere  to  the  government  of  the  church   by  bishops, 
priests,  and  deacons,    by   which  government   the  visi- 
ble   church    of    Christ     is   known        The   benefits    of 
church    communion     are   forfeited    when    we    se])arate 
from   the   priesthood,  which   was  instituted  by  Christ, 
as    the    essential    characteristic    of  hh   church.      The 
uniform   testimony  of  all    the  apostolic    and   primitive 
writers    establishes    the  general   conclusion,  that  who- 
ever was  in   communion  with   the  bishop  was  in  com- 
munion  with   Christ ;   and  whoever  was    not    in   com- 
munion with    the  bishop,  was    thereby  cut   off  from 
communion  with  Christ ;   and  that  sacraments,   not  ad- 
ministered by  the  bishop,    or    those    commissioned  by 
him   were   not     only  Ineffectual   to   the   parties,    but 
moreover,  like   the   offerings  of  Korah,   provocations 
against  the  Lord.     The  only  mode  through  which  we 
can  be  admitted  into  covenant  with  God,  the  only  mode 
by  which  we  can  obtain  a  title  to  those  blessings  and 
])rivileges  which   Christ  has  purchased  for  his  mystical 
body,  the  church,  is  the  sacrament  of  baptism."  , 

This  tenet,  which  implies  the  damnation,  not  only 
of  all  persons  unbaptized,  but  also  of  all  that  are  non- 
episcopally  baptized,  is  more  horrible  than  the  high 
Calvinistic  notion  of  infant  perdition;  because  that 
allows   of  some  infants  being  elect,  and  consequently 


470  '  FULGENTIUS. 

saved.  Nay,  all  Calvinists  do  not  believe  in  the 
damnation  of  infants;  for  instance,  Mr  Toplady, 
who,  on  most  points,  was  a  very  sturdy  supralapsa- 
rian,  thinks  that  all  infants  are  of  the  elect  from  all 
eternity.  This  position,  however,  is  at  variance  with 
the  doctrine  of  ultra  Calvinism,  as  laid  down  by  ho- 
nest Fulgentius,  bishop  of  Ruspas,  in  Africa,  who 
was  considered  the  Augustine  of  his  age,  at  the 
close  of  the  fifth,  and  beginning  of  the  sixth  cen- 
turies. 

Firmissime  tene,  says  the  African  prelate,  et  nul- 
late7ius  duhites,  parvulos,  sive  in  ute?is  matrum  vi- 
vere  incipiunf,  et  ibi  moriuntur,  sive  cum  de  matri- 
hus  nati  sine  sacramento  sancti  baptismatis  de  hoc 
sceculo  transeunt^  ignis  ceterni  sempiterno  supplicio 
puniendos.  Nothing  short  of  a  passage  in  the  sa- 
cred Scriptures  in  which  this  asseveration  of  Ful- 
gentius is  directly,  and  in  so  many  words  revealed, 
will  ever  induce  me  to  believe  that  infants,  dying  in 
their  mother's  womb,  will  be  tormented,  or  rather 
punished,  *'  puniendos i'  in  everlasting  flames.  And 
I  have  not  yet  found  such  a  passage  in  any  edition  of 
the  Bible,  in  any  language  that  I  have  either  read  or 
consulted. 

Observe  the  milder  spirit  of  a  modern  Calvinist,  in 
relation  to  this  sti^ained  inference  against  little  chil- 
dren. The  late  venerable  Thomas  Scott,  in  his  re- 
marks on  the  third  chapter  of  bishop  Tomline's  "  Re- 
futation of  Calvinism,"  alike  steers  clear  of  the  supra- 
lapsarian  tenet,  that  all  except  the  elect  infants  are 
damned,  and  the  still  more  execrable  notion,  borrowed 
from  the  papists,  by  the  modern  formalists,  or  bap- 
tismal regeneration  men,  that  all  unbaptized  and  non- 
episcopally  baptized  infants  are  doomed  to  everlasting 
damnation. 

*' There  is  no  ground  of  doubt,"  says  Mr.  Scott, 
"  of  infants,  the  children  of  believers,  devoted  to 
God  in  baptism,  dying  before  they  commit  actual 
sin,  being  saved ;  but  whether  all  infants,  who  are 
baptized,  or  none   else,  are   questions  of  a  very  com- 


INFANT    DAMNATION.  471 

plicated  nature;  on  which  the  Scripture  gives  no 
light.  Our  rubric  assumes  that  the  profession  and 
engagements  made  in  the  name  of  the  baptized  in- 
fant, and  implied  in  the  parents  who  offer  the  child 
to  baptism,  are  sincere;  and  therefore  speaks  of 
the  infants  as  the  children  of  believers ;  but  is  pro- 
perly silent  as  to  others.  Yet  when  we  consider  the 
various  circumstances  w^hich  may  prevent  the  bap- 
tism of  infants,  born  of  believing  parents,  and  that 
the  children  of  believing  Abraham,  to  whom  circum- 
cision was  given  as  the  seal  of  the  covenant,  by 
which  the  Lord  engaged  to  be  a  God  to  him,  and  to 
his  seed,  must  not  be  performed  before  the  eighth 
day  ;  and  many  would  previously  die ;  we  cannot  be 
authorized  to  confine  the  salvation  of  those  who  die  in 
infancy  to  such  as  are  baptized. 

"  A  few  presumptuous,  extravagant  Calvinists  have 
spoken  shocking  things  of  the  damnation  of  infants  ; 
but  to  consign  the  innumerable  multitudes  of  those, 
all  over  the  world,  and  in  every  age,  who  die  before 
they  commit  actual  sin,  and  die  unbaptized,  to  eter- 
nal damnation,  hfar  more  shocking.  Such  Calvinists 
may  suppose  some  of  the  children  to  be  elect,  and 
saved ;  but  this  sentiment  excludes  them  all.  On 
both  sides,  however,  it  is  a  presumptuous  intrusion 
into  things  unseen  and  unrevealed;  and  a  practical 
forgetfuluess  of  the  words  of  God  by  Moses ;  the 
secret  things  belong  unto  the  Lord  our  God ;  but 
those  things  which  are  revealed  belong  to  us,  and  to 
our  children  for  ever,  that  we  may  do  all  the  words 
of  this  law." 

It  may  be  observed,  that  Fulgentius  has  united  in 
himself  the  doctrine  of  the  sternest  Calvinism,  in 
damning  little  children  in  their  mother's  womb,  with 
that  of  the  papists  and  their  faithful  followers,  the 
modern  formalists,  in  consigning  to  everlasting  tor- 
ments all  those  children  who  are  born,  but  die  un- 
baptized ;  sine  sacramento  sancti  baptismatis.  Be- 
tween these  two  precious  tenets,  Christianity  must  have 
a  very  firm  seat. 


472  CHURCH    DECI-ENSION. 

To  the  prevalence  of  exclusive  churchman  ship,  and 
baptismal  regeneration,  and  similar  popish  interpola- 
tions upon  the  doctrines  of  our  protestant  reformers, 
a  late  able  and  intrepid  champion  and  clergyman  of 
the  Anglican  Church  attributes  her  alarming  decline 
and  impotence.  He  expressly  asserts,  that  owing 
to  the  departure  of  the  national  clergy  from  the 
principles  of  the  Reformation,  the  church  of  Eng- 
land has  become  the  scorn  of  infidels  ;  that  so  large 
a  portion  of  the  English  people  arc  sunk  into  a 
deplorable  ignorance  of  divine  things,  unparalleled  in 
any  other  protestant  country  ;  that  so  many  of  their 
churches  are  empty,  while  dissenting  meetings  are  full 
to  the  overflowing. 

The  melancholy  truth  is,  that  in  many  parts  of 
England,  churchmen  go  to  the  dissenters,  in  order 
to  hear  the  doctrines  of  tlieir  own  church  preached. 
The  ignorant,  and  openly  profane,  are  indifferent 
about  attending  public  worship.  To  this  same  de- 
viation from  the  doctrines  of  their  protestant  prede- 
cessors, on  the  part  of  the  established  clergy,  is 
chiefly  to  be  imputed  the  vast,  and  constantly  in- 
creasing diffusion  of  infidelity  in  England.  Christian- 
ity, shorn  of  its  peculiar  and  distinguishing  princi- 
ples, and  reduced  to  a  mere  dry,  uninteresting  sys- 
tem of  outward  ethics,  can  take  but  little  hold  of 
the  human  heart ;  and  is,  in  itself,  no  better  than  a 
species  of  thinly  disguised  deism. 

Avowed  infidels,  who  reflect,  that  the  Bible  con- 
tains certain  doctrines,  which  are  embodied  in  the 
articles  of  the  Anglican  Church,  and,  at  the  same 
time  observe,  how  many  of  the  English  national  cler- 
gy incessantly  open  their  mouths,  and  wield  their 
pens  against  these  very  doctrines  to  which  they  have 
solemnly  subscribed  their  hands,  professedly  eoj 
animo,  are  led  to  conclude,  "  that  the  church  is 
merely  a  state  engine,  and  the  priesthood  only  a  re- 
sjiectable  trade." 

Nay,  the  Christian  Observer,  at  the  close  of  the 
year    1820,    sounds    forth  an  ominous  note  of  alarm. 


WATKRl.AND DODDRIDGE.  473 

respecting   the    present  condition  and  futiu'e  prospects 
of  the   English   clerical  establishment :    "  the    state  of 
tlie  church,    in  particular,  calls   for   serious  considera- 
tion ;    and   much  is   required  to  restore   it   to  its  due 
popularity    and    efficiency.       It    demands    an    active, 
humble,    self  denying,    and     devotional    clergy;     men 
who  may  gain   the   hearts  and   confidence  of  the   peo- 
ple, and  who  will  faithfully  watcli   for   souls,  as   they 
that  must  give  account ;  and  it   demands  a  very  large 
augmentation  of  their  numbers.     It  demands,    in  its 
ecclesiastical    governors,    no   ordinary    share    of    piety, 
discretion,  and  vigilance.     It  asks,  especially,  for  kind 
and  healing  measures  ;  meas\u-es,  which   may  counter- 
act   the  popular  ferment  against   the   clergy  and  the 
church ;    measures,    the    very   reverse    of  those   which 
some  zealous   party  men   are  desirous  of  carrying  into 
effect.     But  we   drop   this  subject   for   the  present,  as 
we  shall   shortly  have  occasion  to   allude  to  it  again, 
in  examining  the  iiexv  articles  of  religion,  im])osed  on 
candidates    for   holy  orders,    by   the   bisho])   of  Peter- 
borough, (Herbert  Marsh,)  which,    as  if  we  had  not 
controversies  enough  on  our  hands  already,  promise   to 
furnish  a  fruitful  source  of  ecclesiastical  warfare,  during 
the  year  that  is  before  us." 

Nearly  a  hundred  years  since.  Dr.  Waterland 
wrote  by  far  the  ablest,  the  most  learned,  and  most 
ingenious  work  that  has  yet  appeared,  in  support  of 
the  popish  doctrine  of  baptismal  regeneration.  In 
the  year  1741,  appeared  a  complete  refutation  of 
Waterland's  book,  on  Scriptural  grounds,  by  Dr. 
Doddridge,  in  his  ten  sermons  on  regeneration  ;  I 
say  Scriptural,  because  Doddridge  being  a  dissenter, 
was  not  called  upon  to  clear  the  doctrines  of  the 
church  of  P^nglancl  from  so  foul  a  charge.  To  speak 
tenderly,  whoever  can  seriously,  and  without  preju- 
dice, read  these  sermons  of  Doddridge,  and  still 
persist  in  baptismal  regeneration,  must  either  have  a 
heart  harder  than  the  nether  millstone,  or  a  head 
more  impenetrable  than  the  hide  of  a  rhinoceros, 
or  both. 


474  TOMLINE — SCOTT. 

In  later  days,  Dr.  Pretyman  Tomline,  now  bishop 
of  Winchester,  late  of  Lincoln,  stood  up  as  the  cham- 
pion of  this  popish  tenet,  in  the  second  chapter  of  his 
book,  which,  by  a  singular  misnomer,  he  calls  a 
"  Refutation  of  Calvinism."  If  such  a  work  be  a  re- 
futation of  any  thing,  it  is  a  refutation  of  Christianity  ; 
for  it  repudiates,  as  Calvinistic  and  damnable,  all  the 
essential  and  characteristic  doctrines  of  Revelation. 
This  man,  who  has  filled  in  succession  three  of  the 
most  opulent  and  important  bishoprics  in  the  Anglican 
Church,  labours,  with  his  whole  strength,  to  establish 
doctrines  and  principles  in  direct  opposition  to  those 
exhibited  in  the  public  formularies  of  that  church. 

He  has  recourse  to  every  species  of  sophistry  and 
misrepresentation  to  compel  the  articles,  homilies, 
and  liturgy  of  the  church  of  England,  and  the  writ- 
ings of  their  framers  and  founders,  to  speak  a  sense, 
the  very  reverse  of  that  which  their  language  in  all 
fair  and  honest  construction  bears.  Nay,  he  strives 
to  traduce  the  character,  and  blacken  the  reputation 
of  those  illustrious  divines,  who  have  maintained  the 
real  doctrines  of  the  Anglican  Church ;  by  repre- 
senting them  as  followers  of  Simon  Magus;  and  by 
classing  them  with  the  wildest  heretics,  and  likening 
them  to  the  most  abandoned  and  profligate  wretches 
that  have,  in  different  ages,  perverted  and  disgraced 
the  Christian  system. 

The  Rev.  Thomas  Scott,  in  his  "Remarks"  on 
Dr.  Tomline's  book,  has,  with  singular  moderation 
and  forbearance,  exposed  the  ignorance,  the  mis- 
statements, and  the  malignity  of  his  diocesan  ;  and 
fully  vindicated  the  Anglican  Church  from  all  the 
vile  and  abominable  imputations  of  popery,  which 
were  attempted  to  be  fastened  upon  her.  Mr.  Scott's 
work  contains  an  ample  exhibition  of  the  sentiments 
of  the  evangelical  portion  of  the  P^nglish  clergy,  as 
contradistinguished  from  those  formal  tenets  of  the 
great  majority  of  that  clerical  body,  which  have  al- 
ready excited  such  a  popular  ferment  against  the  es- 


RICHAIID    MANT.  475 

tablishmcnt ;  and  which  formal  tenets,  if  not  checked, 
will,  at  no  distant  period,  bury  that  venerable  church 
in  the  midst  of  its  own  ruins. 

Still  more  recently,  the  Rev.  Richard  Mant  has 
followed,  hand  passihus  cecjuis,  Waterland  and  Tom- 
line,  both  of  them  men  of  considerable  talent  and  ex- 
tensive erudition.  Mant's  tract  upon  regeneration,  to 
speak  charitably  of  it,  is  one  of  the  most  flimsy, 
childish,  and  W7ireasoning  exhibitions  of  theology, 
that  the  present  age,  fertile  in  such  effusions,  has 
produced.  Out  of  evil,  however,  has  arisen  good; 
for  this  least  able,  but  most  flagrantly  popish  effort 
in  favour  of  baptismal  regeneration,  called  forth  the 
most  triumphant  refutation  of  this  doctrine,  both  on 
the  ground  of  Scripture  and  of  the  public  formula- 
ries of  the  Anglican  Church,  by  the  Rev.  Messrs. 
John  Scott,  Bugg,  and  Eiddulph,  three  evangelical 
clergymen  in  the  English  establishment.  This  doc- 
trine is  also  most  conclusively  shown  to  be  at  open 
war  with  the  Word  of  God,  and  with  the  articles, 
homilies  and  liturgy  of  the  church  of  England,  in 
the  Christian  Observer  for  the  years  1816  and  1817- 

It  is  necessary  to  bear  in  mind  the  good  faith  of 
Dr.  INIant,  in  labouring  to  make  protestant  divines 
speak  with  a  popish  tongue;  for  exam.ple,  in  his 
compiled  commentary  on  the  Bible,  substituting  the 
word  "reformation"  for  "regeneration,''  in  order  to 
press  the  great  authority  of  Lowth  into  the  service 
of  baptismal  regeneration ;  and  when  detected  in 
the  artifice,  and  exposed  to  the  due  contempt  of  all 
honest  men,  restoring  the  word  "  regeneration  "  in 
a  subsequent  edition. 

How  far  this  "distinguished  divine,"  as  our 
American  formalists  delight  to  denominate  Mant,  is 
qualified  to  instruct  the  Christian  church,  let  the  fol- 
lowing specimen  of  his  theology  prove  :  "  our  transla- 
tion of  this  passage,  (Ephes.  ii.  8.)  for  by  grace  ye 
are  saved  through  faith  ;  and  that  not  of  yourselves, 
it  is  the  gift  of  God  ;  is  a  little   ambiguous,  and  many 


476  SIMON    MAGUS. 

have  iinhappily  concluded  from  it,  that  faith  is  the 
gift  of  God  ;  a  gift,  I  mean,  in  some  peculiar  sense  ; 
such  a  gift  as  is  not  vouchsafed  to  mankind  in  ge- 
neral, like  the  gift  of  reason,  or  any  other  common 
blessing." 

It  is  surely  matter  of  regret,  that  this  distinguished 
divine  was  not  consulted  by  the  inspired  penmen, 
who  recorded  the  word  of  God  ;  for  that  word,  through- 
out all  its  pages  of  inspiration,  leads  directly  to  the 
unhappy  conclusion,  that  faith  is  the  peculiar  gift  of 
God,  and  not  quite  like  any  other  common  blessing  ; 
for  example,  the  air,  or  earth,  or  fire.  The  fathers 
and  founders  of  the  English  church  too,  for  want  of  tlie 
benefits  of  Mr.  Mant's  lucubrations,  have  filled  the 
public  formularies  of  that  church  with  the  same  Scrip- 
tural doctrine,  that  faith  is  the  gift  of  God ;  for  ex- 
ample, the  articles,  the  homilies,  the  catechism,  and 
the  liturgy,  throughout.  And  this  is  the  family  Bible, 
published  under  the  authority  of  the  "  Society  for 
promoting  Christian  Knowledge,"  in  England,  and 
recommended  "  as  one  of  the  most  useful  and  judicious 
productions  of  the  age,"  by  five  out  of  the  nine  bishops 
of  tlie  American-Anglo-Church  ;  one  of  whom,  the 
New- York  diocesan,  acts  as  its  editor,  in  these  United 
States  ! 

In  this  tract  on  regeneration.  Dr.  Mant  asks,  with 
the  most  edifying  simplicity,  "  where  was  Simon 
Magus  admonished  of  the  necessity  of  undergoing 
another  new  birth  ? 

Verily,  if  honest  Simon,  the  sorcerer,  be  a  speci- 
men of  a  protestaut  bishop's  regenerated  saints,  iion 
equidem  invideo,  mi?'or  viagis.  'Jlie  Christian  Ob- 
server supposes,  that  Dr.  Mant  was  led  into  the  theo- 
logical discovery  of  Simon  INIagus  having  undergone 
the  new  birth  by  a  misapprehension  of  the  argu- 
ment of  Augustine,  as  quoted  by  Wall,  namely  :  "that 
baptism  received  with  a  wicked  heart  and  purpose 
is  yet  valid  ;  and  that  such  a  man  is  to  repent,  but 
not  to  be  rebaptized.''  Whence,  the  doctor  has  drawn 
too  stout    a    conclusion   for   such   slender  premises  to 


mant's  tendf.nctf.s.  477 

bear,  to  wit :  "  that  there  is  no  other  than  baptismal 
regeneration  possible  in  this  world ;  that  from  this 
time  forward,  (i.  e.  from  the  moment  of  baptism,)  a 
new  principle  is  implanted,  the  spirit  of  grace,  which, 
beside  onr  soul  and  body,  is  a  principle  of  action, 
and  that  the  inward  grace  ahvays  accompanies  the 
outward  sign  of  baptism." 

Thus  Simon  Magus  appears  to  have  experienced  the 
blessing  of  baptismal  regeneration,  with  about  as  much 
efficacy  as  do  all  those  unbaptized  dead  bo;]ics  in 
the  Roman  church,  which  enjoy  the  benefit  of  baptism 
by  proxy. 

The   most  pernicious   part  of  this  popish   doctrine 
of  baptismal  regeneration  is  its  teMclency  to  divest  re- 
ligion  of  all  inward    holiness,    of   all   practical    piety, 
and    to    degrade    it   into   a    mere   scheme   of  external 
ordinances,     rites,     and     ceremonies;     and    therefore, 
doubtless,    is    it    so   pertinaciously  persisted   in   by  so 
many   formalists,   although   shown   to  be   entirely  un- 
founded in    Scripture,  or  in   the  evangelical  doctrines 
of  the   Anglican   church  ;    not  only   by  the   able  and 
learned   writers  above  mentioned,   but  also  by  others  ; 
among  whom   the  liev.   Messrs.    Simeon,   Fabcr,  and 
AVilson   are   eminently  distinguished.       Some   benefit, 
however,    has    been    produced    by    the    discussion,    in 
rendering  even  formalists  themselves  ashamed  to  own 
this   "  papistical  and  absurd"  doctrine,  as  the  dean  of 
Chichester    calls    it,     in    his    Letter    to    Mr.    Faber, 
wherein   he  accuses  that  gentleman   of  "i  ah' el  if  im- 
puting  such  a  tenet  to  the  majority  of  the  English 
clergy. 

The  opponents  of  Dr.  Mant,  after  proving  that  Ins 
doctrine  has  no  foundation  in  the  Scriptures,  proceed 
to  show,  that  it  is  7iot  the  doctrine  of  the  Anglican 
Church,  nor  of  any  of  her  better  divines,  from  the  Re- 
formation to  the  present  hour.  JMr.  Eiddulph,  in 
particular,  cites,  as  direct  authorities  against  bap- 
tismal regeneration,  the  writings  of  Latimer,  Ridley, 
Hooper,  Cranmer,  Jewel,  Andrews,  Davenant,  Hall, 
Lusher,    Taylor,   Reynolds,   Leighton,    Pearson,  Hop- 


478  ANTINOMIANISM — POPERY. 

kins,  Tillotson,  Kidder,  Beveridge,  Bull,  Williams, 
Burnet,  Fleetwood,  Bradford,  Mann,  Wilson,  Sher- 
lock, Seeker,  Greene,  I^aw,  and  Horsley ;  a  goodly 
array  of  bishops  and  archbishops  ;  to  which  are 
added,  the  illustrious  names  of  Frith,  Tindal,  Turner, 
Fulke,  Hooker,  Noel,  Rogers,  Mede,  Barrow,  Scougal, 
Kettlewell,  Wall,  Woodward,  Burkitt,  Nelson,  South, 
Whitby,  Ostervald,  Stebbing,  llotherhara,  Stonehouse, 
and  Paley. 

Thus  is  left  to  Dr.  Mant  the  enviable  alternative 
of  being  opposed  by  the  soundest  and  most  orthodox 
divines  of  the  church  of  England  ;  some  few  of  whom 
he  has  vainly  manoeuvred  to  enlist  on  his  own  side, 
by  misquotation  and  misrepresentation  ;  or  of  being 
confuted  by  numerous  tracts  of  that  very  Bartlett's- 
buildings  Society,  which,  with  a  pleasant  inconsis- 
tency, has  adopted  this  regeneration  tract  into  its  lists. 
iHave  all  these  great  divines  misunderstood  them- 
selves? or  has  Dr.  Richard  Mant  misapprehended 
them  ? 

That  Dr.  Mant  is  a  very  puny  theologian,  is,  in  itself, 
a  circumstance  of  no  importance ;  but,  as  the  Chris- 
tian Observer  remarks,  his  doctrine  of  baptismal  re- 
generation has  a  most  dangerous  tendency.  Even  the 
able  and  subtle  Waterland  shrunk  from  encountering 
the  peril,  to  which  Mant's  doctrine  exposes  the  An- 
glican Church,  for  in  his  "  View  of  Justification,"  he 
says :  "  if  they  mean,  that  justification,  (to  which 
sense  he  confines  the  term  regeneration,)  is  ordinarily 
given  to  adults,  xvithout  any  preparative,  or  previous 
conditions  of  faith  and  repentance,  this  is,  indeed, 
a  very  new  doctrine,  and  dangerous,  and  opens  a  wide 
door  to  carnal  security,  and  all  ungodliness." 

But  "  fools  rush  in,  where  angels  fear  to  tread  ;'' 
and  Richard  Mant  has  the  courage  to  assure  us,  that 
his  worthy  predecessor,  Simon  Magus,  was  not  only 
justified,  but  sanctified,  also,  by  baptism. 

The  two  main  evils,  resulting  from  Dr.  Mant's  po- 
sitions, as  fully  shown  by  Mr.  Scott  and  Mr.  Biddulph, 
are  antinomianism  and  popn'y,  seeing,  that  regene- 


OPUS    OPERATUTNI.  479 

ration  without  effects,  meets  us  continually,  and  under 
all  its  most  dangerous  delusions,  as  filling  the  episco- 
pally  baptized,  indiscriminately,  with  all  joy  and 
peace  in  believing;  this  distinguished  divine  connect- 
ing inseparably  with  episcopal  baptism,  a  full  and 
free  justification,  and  plenary  remission  of  all  sins, 
original  and  actual,  without  fulfilment,  either  real  or 
supposed,  of  the  previous  conditions  of  faith  and  repen- 
tance. 

Now  this  complete  and  open  avowal  of  the  old  ex- 
ploded, popish  doctrine  of  the  opus  opcratum,  in  the 
nineteenth  century,  by  a  man  who  has  subscribed  the 
articles  of  a  protestant   church,  certainly    exhibits    as 
much    zeal    and    valour,    as    discretion    and   honesty. 
Bishop  Jewel,    the  great  apologist   of  the  church  of 
England,    shows    most    abundantly,    that    one  of   the 
principal    grounds   on    which   that   church    separated 
herself  from  all  intercourse  with  the  see  of  Rome,  was 
the  doctrine  held  by  the  papists,  of  a  necessary  con- 
nexion between  the  opus  operatum  in  the  two  sacra- 
ments, and   grace   and    salvation.      The    English   re- 
formers perceived  the  unscriptural  and  dangerous  ten- 
dency of  this  doctrine.     Nor  is  the  danger  less  now, 
as  appears  from  the  irreligious  temper  and  conduct  of 
the  great  majority  of  persons  baptized  in  the  protestant 
episcopal  church. 

Bishop  Burnet,  the  study  of  whose  exposition  of 
the  articles  the  General  Convention  of  the  American- 
Anglo-Church  has  enjoined  upon  all  candidates  for 
orders,  says  expressly,  "  we  reject,  not  without  great 
zeal  against  the  fatal  effects  of  this  error,  all  that  is  said 
of  the  opus  operatum,  the  very  doing  of  the  sacrament; 
we  think  it  looks  more  like  the  incantations  of  heathen- 
ism, than  the  purity  and  simplicity  of  the  Christian 
religion." 

After  reviewing  the  labours  of  INIr.  Scott  and  Mr. 
Biddulph,  in  support  of  the  Scriptural  and  protest- 
ant doctrine  of  spiritual,  against  the  popish  and  pagan 
tenet  of  baptismal  regeneration,  the  Christian  Ob- 
server    concludes    with    some    valuable     remarks     on 


480  TIJAXSUBSTANTIATION. 

Dr.  INIant's  performance  and  its  tendencies.  He  says, 
the  errors  of  these  tracts  on  regeneration  and  conver- 
sion are  so  obvious,  that  except  for  a  certain  im- 
posing, plausible  alacrity,  and  easy  volubility  of  style, 
it  seems  impossible  for  them  not  to  strike  the  most 
ordinary  apprehension.  It  is  no  credit  to  the  boasted 
depth  of  reading  and  thinking  in  the  present  age, 
that  these  pitiable  pamphlets  have  obtained  any  cur- 
rency. 

They  possess  neither  information  nor  reasoning, 
nor  the  commonest  consistency.  Their  utmost  boast 
is  a  sophistical  appeal  to  some  7«i.S'conceived  expres- 
sions in  the  liturgy,  and  a  very  few  ?;rMunderstood 
authorities.  The  old  popish  principle  of  literal  in- 
terpretation, this  is  my  body,  which  conducted  so 
many  protestants  to  the  flames  of  martyrdom,  is  re- 
vived in  all  its  force ;  for  cxan^ple — "  baptism  is  rege- 
neration ;  wherein  I  was  made  a  member  of  Christ. 
He  saved  us  by  the  washing  of  regeneration.  Words 
cannot  be  plainer :  why  should  we  resort  to  a  forced,  an 
unnatural,  and  a  presumptuous  construction,  to  supply 
us  from  a  distance  with  the  uncertain  shadow  of  a  bless- 
ing, when  the  plainest  and  most  easy  interpretation  of 
our  Saviour's  words  places  the  substance  immediately  in 
our  hands  ?" 

Is  it  baptismal  regeneration,  or  its  twin  sister, 
transuhstantiation,  which  Dr.  Mant  thus  labours  to 
establish  ? 

In  developing  his  theological  views,  Dr.  Mant  has 
not  fairly  attempted  to  meet  one  difficulty,  or  to  ex- 
plain one  opposing  sentiment,  either  in  the  authori- 
ties to  whicli  he  refers,  or  in  the  church  formularies ; 
for  example,  the  apparently  conditional  interrogato- 
ries before  baptism,  with  the  unconditional  grant 
maintained  by  him,  of  the  spiritual  grace  afterwards. 
Nor  has  he  explained  in  xvJiat  sense  the  church  seems 
absolutely  to  promise  eternal  life,  as  well  as  regenera- 
tion, to  the  baptized.  Nor  has  he  reconciled  the  li- 
turgical views  with  those  of  the  Anglican  Church, 
which    they   seem    to    contradict,    particularly   in    the 


GAI.I.OWS    DOCTllINE.  481 

twentv-fiftb  article.      He  has  left   every  difficulty  to 
shift  for  itself. 

Indeed,  these  tracts  betray  a  perfect  ignorance  of 
the  very  nature  and  first  rudiments  of  a  sacrament. 
They  do  not  adhere  to  the  same  view  of  it  for  two 
pages  togetlicr.  His  predominant  language,  how- 
ever, is  that  the  sign  is  the  thing  signified;  Ijaptism 
is  regeneration.  At  oJier  times,  baptism  only  con- 
veys regeneration.  But  the  popish  error,  the  peculiar 
conceit  of  tliis  protcstant  churchman  is,  that  the  sacra- 
ment to  be  valid,  must  alwaijs  be  attended  with  tlie 
grace.  Thus,  according  to  him,  every  ba])tism  law- 
fully, that  is,  episcopally  administered,  is  valid  ;  but 
every  valid  baptism  has  the  grace  tacked  to  it ;  there- 
fore, every  lawful,  or  episcopal  baptism,  is  inseparably 
connected  with  the  saving  grace.     Q.  E.  D. 

This,  it  must  be  confessed,  is  a  very  comfortable 
and  wholesome  doctrine  for  all  confirmed  thieves 
and  midnight  murderers ;  who  have  only  to  postpone 
their  baptism,  until  they  are  convicted  by  the  jury, 
and  sentenced  to  death  by  the  judge;  and  then  pre- 
vail upon  the  ordinary  of  Newgate  to  baptize  them 
episcopally  and  lawfully,  the  moment  before  their 
friend  Jack  Ketch  swings  them  off;  and,  if  Dr 
]\Iaut  be  correct  in  his  theology,  they  will  go  to  heaven 
from  the  gallows,  quite  as  straight  as  from  the  bench  of 
bishops. 

And  this  is  the  doctrine,  which  a  protestant  bishop 
promulgates,  in  order  to  promote  private  and  public 
morals,  in  the  present  feverish  and  perturbed  state  of 
Christendom,  when  all  old  institutions  are  rocking  to 
their  deepest  foundations  ;  and  when  every  new  estab- 
lishment is  exploding  amidst  the  blaze  of  revolutionary 
fires  ! 

To  say  the  least,  this  seems  to  be  but  a  short- 
sighted scheme  ;  but  ])erhaps,  bishop  Mant  is  satis- 
fied that  the  existing  order  of  things  will  last  out  his 
time ;  and  posterity,  like  his  own  baptismal  doctrine, 
must  be  left  to  shift  for  itself;  according  to  the 
apothegm   of  that    sapient  civic    magistrate,   who  de- 

2  I 


482  MANT'S    CONTRADICTIONS. 

dared,  that  he  did  not  see  why  he  should  care  about 
posterity,  since  posterity  had  done  nothing  for  him. 
Apres  lions  le  deluge,  was  the  watchword  of  Madame 
Pompadour  and  the  regent  Orleans.  And  after  them 
the  deluge  did  indeed  come. 

A  very  slight  inspection  of  its  merits  will  prove  Dr. 
INIant's  system  to  be  contradictory  and  suicidal.  At 
one  time,  his  regeneration  consists  in  privileges,  which 
may  be  forfeited  by  an  improper  conduct,  or  state  of 
mind  ;  at  another,  it  consists  in  that  good  state  of 
mind  and  heart  which  best  secures  those  privi- 
leges. At  one  time,  "  a  change  of  heart,  as  conver- 
sion, renovation,  and  the  like,  may  take  place  before 
baptism ;"  at  another,  on  Hooker's  authority  misun- 
derstood, "  baptism  is  a  step,  which  to  our  sanctifica- 
tion  here,  hath  not  any  before  it."  Nay,  renovation, 
which,  he  says,  is  the  renewal  of  regenerating  grace, 
may  liappen  before  regeneration  itself.  His  whole  tract 
is  professedly  written  to  prove  imqualified  regeneration 
at  baptism ;  and  yet  he  talks  of  "  qualifications  for  re- 
generation." 

Indeed,  this  distinguished  divine  appears,  hastily 
and  unreflectingly,  to  have  adopted  the  different 
and  contradictory  notions  of  various  and  clasliing 
systems,  without  being  able  to  give  them  even  the 
semblance  of  any  connexion  by  his  own  ingenuity  ; 
wlience  his  tracts  teem  with  inconsistency  and  self- 
contradiction  ;  in  addition  to  being  at  variance  with  all 
sound  and  orthodox  antiquity,  in  separating-  the  ideas 
of  renewal,  faith,  repentance,  and  a  holy  life,  from  that 
of  regeneration.  It  is  but  justice  also  to  state,  that 
this  potential  polemic  has  contrived  to  overthrow  his 
own  positions  by  all  the  very  few  authorities,  of 
whatever  age  or  kind,  to  which  he  has  ventured  to 
appeal. 

The  most  serious  charge,  however,  against  this 
doctrine,  is  its  pernicious  tendency ;  a  tendency,  to 
be  sure,  bounded  by  its  currency,  which,  in  the  present 
age  of  Scriptural  inquiry,  cannot  be  either  exten- 
sive   or  permanent.     Its  tendency  is  to  blot  out  from 


WATERI.AND — iVfANT.  4815 

the  Christian  system  the  necessity  of  faith  and  of  all 
spiritual  religion  ;  all  that  distinguishes  a  soul,  born  of 
God,  and  united  to  the  Saviour,  and  led  by  the  spirit, 
from  a  merely  decent  formalist.  The  neglect  of  this 
distinction  is  the  great  practical  heresy  of  every  age, 
and  of  none  more  than  the  present.  So  that  Dr. 
Mant's  tenets  tend  directly  to  sap  the  foundation  of  all 
vital  piety,  of  all  personal  holiness. 

Dr.  Waterland,  with  whose  ingenious  speculations  it 
is  7iot  intended  to  compare  JNIant's  childish  contradic- 
tions, asserts,  that  infants  are  justified,  that  is,  regene- 
rated, in  baptism  without  either  faith  or  works :  and  in 
the  true  spirit  of  such  a  doctrine,  asks  :  "  what  occasion 
for  disturbing  Christians  now,  with  the  question,  whe- 
ther p-ood  works  2:0  before  justification,  or  not?     Are 

<5  o  111 

we  not,  all  of  us,  or  nearly  all,  ten  thousand  to  one,  bap- 
tized in  infancy,  and  therefore  regenerated,  and  justified 
of  course  ?*' 

But  Dr.  IMant  throws  a  cast  even  beyond  this. 
However  unscriptural,  unprotestant,  unchurchmanlike, 
and  dangerous  it  is  to  say,  that  infants  are  justi- 
fied without  faith,  when  the  very  sacrament  of  baptism 
is  a  sacrament  of  faith  ;  and  the  service  itself  pre- 
supposes their  faith,  yet,  extending  the  application 
to  adults  and  to  all  episcopally  baptized  persons,  has 
never  been  done  so  openly  and  unblushingly  by 
any  protestant  writer,  as  by  Dr.  IMant,  whose  sys- 
tem is  a  most  awful  surrender  of  the  great  evangelical 
doctrine  of  justification  by  faith,  and  the  substitution, 
in  its  room,  of  the  formal  tenet  of  justification  by  bap- 
tism . 

In  his  first  studied  definition  of  conversion,  upon 
which  the  whole  system,  in  his  second  tract,  is  built, 
he  omits  altogether  any  mention  of  faith.  Sorrow 
for  sin,  repentance,  purposes  of  amendment,  the  use 
of  ordinances,  a  change  of  heart  and  life,  with  per- 
severance, are  its  only  conditions  ;  and  not  one  word 
is  said  of  reliance  on  the  atonement,  or  reference  by 
faith  to  that  blood  of  Christ  which  cleanseth  from  all 

S  I  2 


484*  jnSTIFlCATIOX    BY    FAITH. 

sin  ;  any  move  tlian  if  the  name  of  Christ  had  never 
been  heard  of. 

This  is  the  essence  of  the  scheme  of  baptismal 
regeneration  ;  the  essence  of  formalism,  denying  the 
very  foundation  of  faith,  and  levelling  the  whole 
fabric  of  Christianity  to  the  dust.  Justification  by 
faith  alone  in  the  merits  of  Christ,  is  the  doctrine  of 
tlie  l^ible,  the  doctrine  of  protestants,  tlie  doctrine 
of  the  Anglican  Church,  tlie  doctrine  to  which  Chris- 
tians owe  all  tlieir  hopes,  the  doctrine,  in  defence  of 
which  the  English  reformers  and  martyrs  died,  the 
doctrine  wliich  the  popish  prelate,  Gardiner,  laboured 
most  stoutly  to  oppose  by  the  favourite  and  prevailing 
arguments  of  the  Roman  see,  the  rack,  the  dungeon, 
the  gibbet,  and  the  flame ;  because  lie  saw  that  if  it 
were  once  admitted  into  his  church,  the  entire  inass 
of  papal  superstition  and  idolatry,  including  transub- 
stantiation,  and  baptismal  regeneration,  must  speedily 
perish. 

The  Christian  Observer,  out  of  pure  charity,  acquits 
Dr.  JNIant  of  any  intention  respecting  these  doctrines, 
on  the  ground  of  his  not  being  able  to  see  their  real 
tendency;  but  he  does  not  acquit  him  of  intending 
to  discountenance  what  his  tracts  are  directly  calcu- 
lated to  discountenance,  spiritual  religion  and  vital 
piety.  For  his  system  teaches,  that  spiritual  religion 
is  either  every  where,  or  no  where ;  either  that  bap- 
tism gives  it  to  all,  or  that  it  is  necessary  to  none. 
Now  it  is  absurd  to  talk  of  any  spiritual  change  ef- 
fected in  all  by  episcopal  baptism  ;  seeing  that  it  is  a 
denial  of  all  experience,  and  incapable  of  any  rational 
evidence. 

Regeneration,  says  Mant,  is  given  to  all  at  bap- 
tism ;  but,  after  baptism,  all  have  not  spiritual  reli- 
gion ;  indeed,  none  have  it,  without  the  same  in- 
struction, as  if  there  had  been  no  previous  regenera- 
tion. Regeneration,  therefore,  is  not  spiritual  reli- 
gion ;  which,  indeed,  according  to  this  new  scheme 
of  divinity,    has    no   existence   but    in   the   disordered 


BISHOP    LAVIXGTt)N.  485 

imagination  of  brainsick  fanatics,  as  nietliotlists,  Cal- 
vinists,  and  the  like. 

This  system  dilutes  Christianity  into  the  mere  prin- 
ciples of  natural  religion,  and  natural  conscience ; 
making  baptism  secure  to  us  a  reception  of  our  im- 
perfect works  and  frail  principles  of  nature  into  fa- 
vour with  God,  through  the  merits  of  Christ.  It 
makes  baptism  a  seal  to  the  mitigated  law  of  Christi- 
anity;  and  a  pledge,  that  such  as  we  are,  if  we  do 
our  best,  and  use  the  aid  afforded  us,  we  shall  continue 
in  our  state  of  baptismal  justification. 

Can  any  thing  be  more  destructive  of  all  true  spi- 
rituality of  heart,  all  genuine  conversion,  and  de- 
votedncss  of  the  whole  nature  to  God ;  every  thing 
that  distinguishes  the  true  Christian  from  a  world 
lying  in  wickedness  ?  It  is,  in  fact,  a  desecration  of 
all  that  is  most  holy  and  undefiled  in  the  religion  of 
Christ,  even  to  its  very  words  and  denominations. 

In  his  tract  on  conversion.  Dr.  Mant  labours  still 
more  directly  to  destroy  all  serious  views,  and  just 
feelings  in  religion ;  to  give  the  death-blow  to  all  spi- 
ritual, all  personal  religion.  He  rakes  into  bishop 
Lavington's  kennel,  and  thence  extracts  the  mire  of 
misrepresentation  and  calumny,  wherewith  to  stain 
and  darken  every  thing  in  the  shape  of  evangelical 
piety,  in  whatever  Christian  denomination  it  may  be 
found.  Being  a  protestant  bishop,  Dr.  Mant  ought 
to  know,  that  the  quarrel  of  infidel  and  wicked  men 
has  always  been  with  the  sincere  and  consistent  pro- 
fession and  practice  of  an  humble,  self-denying,  self- 
devoted  religion.  Deists  and  atheists  have  no  radical 
objection  to  a  churchman,  provided  he  be  a  formalist, 
and  hates  all  practical  ])iety,  with  as  perfect  a 
hatred  as  their  own.  Their  virulence  is  directed 
against  the  real  believers  in  Christianity,  of  whatever 
sect,  because  the  holy  life  of  such  persons  puts  to 
shame  their  own  unrighteous  deeds.  But  what  is 
there  to  offend  an  infidel,  whether  speculative  or  practi- 
cal, in  bishop  Mant's  twin  tracts  on  regeneration  and 
conversion  ? 


486  PAPISTS — DISSENTERS. 

What  wisdom  was  there  in  attempting  to  revive 
questions  and  doctrines,  and  contentions,  which  every 
sound  divine,  since  the  Reformation,  has  laboured  to 
compose  in  the  spirit  of  Christian  charity  ?  Dr.  Mant  has 
not  proved,  nor  will  he  ever  be  able  to  prove  his  positions 
on  any  Scriptural,  or  protestant,  or  cluirch  of  England 
grounds. 

Most  probably  he  will  not  attempt  it ;  seeing  that 
theology,  and  more  especially  controversy,  is  not  his 
folate.  But  xvliose  hands  has  he  strengthened  by  these 
lucubrations  ?  not  those  of  the  Anglican  Church, 
whose  bread  he  eats,  and  whose  dignities  have  been 
heaped  upon  him  ;  no ;  but  he  has  strengthened  the 
hands  of  the  papist,  of  the  protestant  dissenter,  of 
every  one  who  desires  the  overthrow  of  the  English 
ecclesiastical  establishment. 

The  papist  might  well  rejoice,  that  the  protestant 
barrier,  raised  by  the  English  reformers  against  the 
papal  doctrine  of  the  sacraments,  is  now  attempted 
to  be  beaten  down  by  a  bishop  of  the  Anglican 
Church.  The  protestant  dissenter  might  well  justify 
his  separation  from  the  establishment,  if  it  hold  such 
a  fundamental  article  of  the  popish  creed.  Nay,  Dr. 
Mant  has  actually  referred  to  the  authority  of  the 
nonconformist  ministers,  who  stated,  as  a  ground  of 
their  nonconformity,  that  the  church  of  England 
clearly  teaches  the  doctrine  of  a  real  baptismal  regene- 
ration. An  imputation,  which  the  greatest  and  best 
divines  of  the  Anglican  Church  have  always  indignantly 
repelled. 

If  these  baptismal  regeneration  doctors  be  correct 
in  their  exposition  of  the  public  formularies  of  the 
church  of  England,  was  the  great  earl  of  Chatham 
wrong,  when  he  thundered  forth  in  the  house  of 
Lords,  "  we  have  a  Calvinistic  creed,  an  Arminian 
clergy,  and  a  popish  liturgy"  ? 

No7i  tali  miajilio ;  we  do  not  need  bishop  Mant, 
or  any  other  bishop,  priest,  or  deacon,  now,  in  the 
nineteenth  century,  to  inform  us,  that  the  public 
services    of  the  Anglican  Church  are  not  yet  under- 


FOU3IAL    CHAMPION.  4-87 

Stood :  and  that  the  illustrious  divines,  who  compiled 
the  liturgy,  and  tranicl  the  articles,  and  composed 
the  homilies,  and  all  their  ablest,  wisest,  best  suc- 
cessors, during  a  period  of  nearly  three  hundred 
years,  have  been  mistaken  in  their  mode  of  cxpoundmg 
tliem. 

Indeed,  the  great  dragon  of  formalism,  in  our 
American  churches,  has  been  heard  to  exclaim,  that 
the  first  reformers  did  not  understand  the  articles  of 
the  English  Church,  and  in  the  homilies,  through 
mistake,  gave  them  an  erroneous  interpretation. 
That  is  to  say,  the  first  English  reformers,  some  of 
the  best  and  brightest  lights  which  ever  burned  in 
Christendom,  did  not  understand  the  articles  framed 
by  themselves. 

This,  in  fundamental  verity,  is  the  argumentum  ad 
viodestlam.       Thou    child    and    champion    of    formal- 
ism !    suppose  I  were  to   say  to    you,    "  Sir,   the    self 
same  sermon,  which   you  wrote,  and  preached  twice, 
in  two  different  churches,  on  the   last  Sunday,   about 
the  venial   errors  and   slight  imperfections   of  human 
nature;    the   sufficiency   of  human  works,   if  perform- 
ed  within  the  pale  of  your  own   church  ;    the  neces- 
sity of  avoiding  all  communion  in  matters  purely  re- 
ligious,   with    uncovenanted  people,    and   the  duty   of 
execrating  all    approach    to    the    doctrines    of  grace  ; 
neither  you  nor  your  parishioners,  understand ;  but  some 
three  hundred  years  hence,  a  set  of  men  will  arise  in 
the  church,   who   will   undertake   to    prove,    that   you 
knew  nothing  at  all  about  your  own  miserable  discourse  ; 
that  you,  to  be  sure,   intended   it  for  a  dull,    sober, 
Pelagian,  pagan,  formal,  high  church.  Sabbatical  essay, 
without  one  single  ray  of  Christian  truth  in  any  part  of 
it ;  but  in  reality  it  was,  7iiirahile  dictu,  quite  a  Scrip- 
tural and  evangelical  address  !" 

"  Quid  rides?   nmtato  nomine  de  te 
Fabula  narratur." 

That  we   might  not  err  in   our  notions   respecting 
xihat  portion  of  the  church  of  England  clergy  really 


488  ECLECTIC    KEVIEW. 

tend,  by  their  labours,  to  support,  or  overthrow  that 
church ;  whether  the  baptismal  regeneration  formal- 
ists, or  the  evangelical  ministers  in  the  establish- 
ment, the  Eclectic  Review  for  the  year  1816  has 
kindly  provided.  The  reviewer,  taking  precisely 
the  position  of  Dr.  Mant,  says,  that  one  of  the  rea- 
sons assigned  by  the  ejected  ministers  at  the  restoration 
of  Charles  the  second,  for  refusing  to  sign  the  declara- 
tion, was,  that  tlie  common  prayer  book  teaches  the 
doctrine  of  real  baptismal  regeneration,  and  certain 
salvation  consequent  thereon.  And,  assuming  that  the 
nonconformists  were  correct  in  their  assertion,  the 
reviewer  pronounces  bishop  Tomline,  Dr.  Mant,  and 
all  tlie  baptismal  regeneration  champions,  to  be  the 
only  consistent  churchmen. 

The  Eclectic  Keview  professedly  supports  evangeli- 
cal religion  and  doctrine  ;  and  on  Scriptural  grounds 
condemns  baptismal  regeneration,  as  a  popish  and  anti- 
christian  tenet.  But  as  some  of  the  chief  writers  in 
tliat  journal  are  resolute  enemies  to  all  alliance  between 
the  church  and  state,  they  eagerly  seize  on  Mant  and 
Tomline,  and  their  fellows,  as  competent  and  credible 
witnesses  to  prove,  that  the  Anglican  Church  estab- 
lishment is  antiscriptural  and  popish  ;  and  therefore 
must  be  removed,  in  order  to  substitute  Scriptural  and 
protestant  Christianity. 

And  doubtless  in  the  present  state  and  condition  of 
the  English  people,  if  thf^  can  be  induced  to  believe, 
that  the  national  church  really  maintains  popish  and 
un scriptural  doctrines  respecting  the  sacraments,  they 
will  speedily  send  that  church,  and  all  her  clerical 
children,  to  follow  the  fortunes  of  the  second  James, 
and  his  male  progeny. 

To  Dr.  Mant  belongs  the  unenviable  distinction  of 
having  revived  the  Romish  doctrine  of  baptismal  re- 
generation more  openly,  and  more  grossly,  than  any 
other  writer,  by  courtesy,  called  protestant ;  nor 
would  it  be  easy  for  a  popish  priest  himself  to  ex- 
press the  tenets  of  his  own  church  more  explicitly 
on    this   point  ;    in    peculiar   opposition   to  which    the 


FALLING    CHURCH.  489 

English  reformers  endured  the  agony  of  martyrdom. 
For  example,  even  in  his  latter  academic  sermons,  he 
informs  ns,  that  in  baptism  the  Spirit  "  infuses  into  ns 
a  ])rinciple  of  life ;  that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is 
Spirit ;  such  we  become  by  our  spiritual  regeneration, 
by  our  new  birth  in  the  sacrament  of  baptism."  The 
Spirit  "  moveth  upon  the  face  of  [_._j  ba})tismal  waters 
imparting  to  them  a  quickening  power."  It  is  the 
duty  of  the  minister  "  to  wash  the  sinner  in  the  laver 
of  regeneration,  and  to  be  the  instrument  of  admitting 
him  into  filiation  with  God :"  "  to  baptism  he  (Christ) 
promises  salvation."  Christ  declares,  that  the  bread 
and  wine  of  the  holy  communion  ctfe  "  his  body  and 
blood,"  and  so  forth. 

AVhen  these,  and  sentiments  such  as  these,  are 
openly  promulgated  by  the  church  of  England  clergy, 
of  all  orders  and  degrees  ;  and  when  those  who  labour 
to  bring  back  the  Scriptural  doctrines  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, as  embodied  in  the  liturgy,  articles,  and  homilies 
of  tliat  church,  in  opposition  to  these  horrible  impieties, 
are  branded  as  puritan  gospellers,  methodists,  Calvinists, 
dissenters,  seditionists,  and  the  like ;  is  it  a  ground  of 
marvel,  that  the  English  ecclesiastical  establishment 
has  a  bad  odour  in  the  nostrils  of  all  honest  men  ?  that 
every  one  who  reads  and  believes  the  word  of  God, 
shrinks  with  loathing  from  such  popish  and  pagan 
mockeries  ? 

AA'ell  may  the  dissenters  lift  up  their  voices,  and 
sharpen  their  spears  against  a  heathen  hierarchy.  And 
yet  Dr.  INIant,  with  a  truly  infantile  simplicity,  utters 
a  feeble  shriek  of  lamentation  over,  what  he  calls,  "  a 
much  injured,  perhaps  a  falling  church."  Now,  is 
there  a  single  individual,  not  even  excepting  bishops 
Tomline  and  Marsh,  in  the  present  age,  who  has  con- 
tributed so  much,  in  proportion  to  his  power,  to  her 
actual  injury  and  impending  fall,  as  Richard  INIant 
himself?  Has  not  he  stricken  his  knife  into  her  vitals, 
and  rendered  her  an  object  of  scorn  and  derision  to  all 
her  enemies  ? 


490  FORMAL    CllUUCH. 

The  British  government,  doubtless,  in  order  to 
sliow  to  tlie  world  the  essential  benefits  of  an  inse- 
parable alliance  between  church  and  state,  in  pro- 
moting the  best  interests  of  pure  and  undefiled  re- 
ligion, have  actually  made  an  Irish  bishop  of  Mant ; 
as  a  reward  for  having  laboured  incessantly  and  witli 
all  his  niiglit,  to  fasten  the  stain  of  popery  on  a  church 
professedly  protestant.  The  rulers  of  Britain  have 
only  to  persevere  in  promoting  such  clerical  champions ; 
and  continue  to  their  bishops  the  power  of  suspending 
curates  ad  libitum,  and  of  refusino;  to  countersi<rn 
the  testimonials  of  all  presentees,  who  may  happen 
to  preach  the  Gospel;  and  they  will  soon  ha^e  a 
national  churcii,  composed  altogether  of  formalists. 

But  then  they  will  not  long  be  troubled  witli 
their  politico-clerical  establishment ;  for  the  people  of 
England  will  never  endure,  staggering  as  they  are 
under  so  many  other  national  burdens,  to  be  laden 
with  an  annual  tax  of  fifty  millions  of  dollars,  to 
support  a  church,  whose  clergy,  in  defiance  of  its 
evangelical  creed,  labour  so  strenuously  to  render  it 
unscriptural  and  antiscriptural,  unchristian  and  anti- 
christian,  by  substituting  merely  external  ordinances, 
and  rites,  and  ceremonies,  for  a  living  faith,  and  a 
holy  life. 

If  Mant  and  his  peers  be  correct  in  their  interpre- 
tation of  the  public  formularies  of  the  Anglican 
Church,  the  sooner  such  a  church  is  stubbed  up, 
root  and  branch,  and  burned  in  unquenchable  fire, 
the  better.  Nor  need  we  be  alarmed  at  the  proba- 
ble number  of  martyrs  among  the  state  clergy,  in  the 
event  of  the  dissolution  of  a  church  reduced  to  the  de- 
plorable condition  of  entire  formalism. 

In  the  hour  of  her  extremity,  it  will  be  found,  that 
a  formal  hierarchy  and  a  formal  clergy,  clustering  in 
all  decent  debility  around  the  altars  of  the  Anglican 
Church,  will  not  be  able  to  prolong  her  existence. 
If  the  British  governmciit  deem  the  preservation  of 
the  national  church   of  any  importance   to   the  state. 


RADICALS— EVANGELICALS.  191 

it  ought  to  know,  that  the  only  possible  mode  of  pre- 
serving the  establisliment,  is  to  fill  its  palaces  and 
parishes  with  an  evangelical  ministry.  Then  no  ap- 
prehension need  be  entertained  of  the  growth,  either 
of  sectaries,  or  of  radicals,  which  at  present  strikes  so 
much  terror  into  the  ruling  powers. 

Let  the  sovereigns  of  Britain  make  the  experiment 
of  introducing  evangelical  clergymen  into  the  bishoprics 
and  benefices  of  the  national  church ;  and  they  will 
soon  be  secure  from  all  alarms  of  sedition,  privy  con- 
spiracy and  rebellion  ;  of  all  false  doctrine,  heresy  and 
schism  ;  of  hardness  of  heart,  and  contempt  of  God  s 
word  and  commandment. 

Whoever  wishes  to  see  the  consequences  of  a  gene- 
ral diffusion  of  infidelity  most  forcibly  and  impres- 
sively exhibited,  may  read  "  the  Radical's  Saturday 
night ;"  in  the  sixth  volume  of  Blackwood's  Magazine, 
one  of  the  ablest  and  most  eloquent  effusions  in  the 
English  language. 

In  the  mean  time,  it  is  a  source  of  sincere  congra- 
tuhition,  that  the  flame  of  protestant  piety  is  not  yet 
entirely  extinguished  in  the  Anglican  Church ;  and 
if  the  little  remnant  of  evangelism,  still  existing  in 
til  at  overgrown  body  of  formality,  will  but  faithfully 
persevere  in  defending  and  enforcing  the  truly  Scrip- 
tural doctrines  of  the  liturgy,  articles  and  homilies, 
framed  by  the  reformers,  that  church  may  yet,  under 
the  blessing  of  divine  Providence,  still  survive,  and 
triumph  over  all  the  open  attacks  of  ber  avowed 
enemies  ;  and  over  what  is  infinitely  worse,  and  far 
more  dangerous,  all  the  expositions  and  interpola- 
tions of  her  formal  friends.     Amen  !   esto  perpetua  ! 

auv  acKmvtov  ! 

In  these  United  States,  the  printed  efforts  in  favour 
of  baptismal  regeneration,  have  been  but  few,  and 
faint,  and  feeble,  and  far  between.  In  the  "Washing- 
\ton  Theological  Repertory,"  for  January  and  February 
1821,  this  subject  is  discussed.  And  the  writer  fully 
and   clearly  proves   that   spiritual,    7iot   baptismal   re- 


492  SUBSEQUENT    CONVERSION. 

generation,  is  the  doctrine,  alike  of  the  Scriptures  and 
of  the  public  formularies  of  the  protcstaut  episcopal 
church. 

A  plain  man  might  ask,  how  the  baptismal  rege- 
neration doctors,  on  their  scheme,  can  account  for 
the  subsequent  conversion  of  baptized  peo])le ;  for 
example,  of  such  persons  as  Halyburton,  Gardiner, 
Newton,  Vanderkemp,  Henry  Martyn,  and  an  innu- 
merable multitude  of  others  ?  do  the  formalists  dcvrc 
to  assert,  that  many  of  the  ablest  and  wisest  men  that 
have  ever  enlightened  and  adorned  the  world,  were 
weak  enthusiasts  and  blind  fanatics,  in  comparison 
witli  their  own  snow  broth  apprehensions  ?  And 
how,  upon  tJicir  mode  of  interpretation,  do  they  ex- 
plain the  fact,  of  the  feelings,  and  language,  and 
conduct,  of  the  converted,  the  spiritually  regenerated 
being  substantially  the  same  in  all  ages,  and  in  every 
clime  ? 

The  universal  experience  of  time  and  truth  shows, 
that,  whenever  any  one  becomes  a  real,  a  regene- 
rated Christian,  the  whole  temper  and  character  of 
his  mind  are  so  clianged  as  to  become  different  from 
those  of  the  generality  of  mankind,  and  from  what 
itself  was,  while  yet  unenlightened  and  unrenewed. 
It  is  not  merely  a  little  circumstantial  alteration  ;  not 
the  assuming  a  new  name ;  nor  the  professing  new 
speculative  opinions ;  nor  the  practising  new  rites, 
and  forms,  and  ceremonies  and  ordinances  ;  but  the 
becoming  a  different  creature,  a  nezv  man,  in  that 
Scriptural  sense,  wherein  the  characteristics  of  re- 
generation are  opposed  to  circumcision  and  uncir- 
cumcision,  and  all  the  bare  externals  of  religious  pro- 
fession ;  and  wherein  the  utter  insufficiency  of  the  last, 
and  the  absolute  necessity  of  the  first,  are  distinctly 
declared. 

The  truly  regenerate  have  new  apprehensions, 
new  affections,  new  resolutions,  new  labours,  new 
enjoyments,  new  hopes  ;  all  of  which  prove  them  to 
have  become  spiritual,  and  separate  from  the  appre- 
hensions,   affections,    resolutions,    labours,   enjoyments. 


SCOTT — MII-XEIl.  49'' 

and  liopcs  of  tlic  worldling  and  formalist,  in  conse- 
(juence  of  the  regenerating  influences  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  upon  their  hearts.  Now  will  any  formalist 
stand  up,  and  declare  in  the  face  of  the  day,  that 
such  are  the  characteristics  of  all  the  episcopally 
baptized  ? 

How  do  the  formalists,  upon  ihei?'  theory,  account 
for  the  conversion  of  men,  after  they  have  taken 
orders,  and  have  ministered  in  the  sanctuary;  of 
which  both  the  Anglican  and  American-Anglo- 
Churches  can  exhibit  illustrious  cxam})les?  Tliese 
persons  liad  all  been  regularly  baptized ;  and  before 
their  regeneration  or  conversion  had  led  as  decent  moral 
lives,  in  all  exterior  circumstances,  as  did  ever  any  of 
tliose  formalists,  who  have  gone,  or  are  now  hastening 
to  their  own  place. 

The  venerable  Thomas  Scott,  in  his  "  Force  of 
Trutli,"  has  given  to  the  world  an  awfully  solemn  ac- 
count of  the  steps,  by  which  it  pleased  a  gracious  Provi- 
dence to  lead  him  from  the  darkest  depths  of  clerical 
formalism,  into  the  regions  of  evangelical  light  and 
truth.  In  "  the  Washington  Theological  Repertory," 
for  May  and  June  J  820,  Mr.  Scott's  narrative  is  in- 
terestingly and  instructively  reviewed. 

The  conversion  of  the  Rev.  Josepli  Milner,  the 
historian  of  the  church  of  Christ,  is  stated,  with 
great  force  and  effect,  by  dean  Isaac  Milner,  in  his 
life  of  his  brother.  The  dean  says,  that  in  illustrating 
the  doctrines  of  regeneration,  or  new  birth,  and  of 
justification  by  faith,  Mr.  Milner  exerted  all  his  great 
])owers.  Such  preaching  was  offensive  to  many,  who 
called  it  fanaticism,  a  word  of  convenient  latitude  to 
express  the  hatred  of  formalists  to  all  evangelical 
truth. 

But  the  prcaciier's  learning  and  knowledge  of  the 
Scriptures  secured  his  authority  ;  his  veliement  elo- 
quence commanded  attention,  and  his  manifest  affec- 
tion for  his  people,  and  tender  regard  for  their  im- 
mortal interests,  gradually  elicited  their  esteem  and 
gratitude.     A   common  objection  to  the  doctrines  of 


494  REAL  regi<:neration. 

grace  is,  that  if  mankind  are  so  depraved  by  nature,  as 
to  have  no  power  to  do  good,  they  cannot  be  responsible 
for  their  actions.  But  Mx.  JMihier  never  meddled  with 
the  metaphysical  subtleties  that  have  darkened  this  in- 
quiry ;  in  the  pulpit,  he  always  confined  himself  to  the 
Scripture  account  of  the  matter.  He  constantly  taught 
the  necessity  of  the  efficacious  operation  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  in  restoring  to  the  depraved  nature  of  fallen 
man  the  lost  image  of  God ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  in- 
culcated the  important  duty  of  employing  proper  means 
to  obtain  the  proposed  end. 

He  maintained,  that  the  spirit  of  God  did  not  ope- 
rate on  the  minds  of  men,  as  if  they  were  inert  matter 
or  mechanical  engines  ;  but  that  the  blessed  effects  took 
place  always  in  the  use  of  our  rational  faculties,  and  con- 
sistently with  every  notion  of  the  freedom  of  the  human 
will,  to  which  any  clear  and  satisfactory  meaning  can 
be  assigned. 

Regeneration,  in  its  Scriptural  sense,  is  a  prevailing 
disposition  of  the  soul  to  universal  holiness,  -produced 
and  cherished  by  the  influences  of  God's  spirit  on  the 
heart,  operating  in  a  manner  suitable  to  the  constitu- 
tion of  man,  as  a  rational  and  responsible  being.  Now 
does  baptismal  regeneration  ahvays  ensure  such  a  re- 
sult? and,  if  it  fail  in  07ie  single  instance,  the  insepara- 
bility, the  necessary  connexion  between  baptism  and 
regeneration  is  destroyed,  and  the  whole  theory  of  Dr. 
Mant  falls  to  the  ground. 

Those  preachers  who  encourage  men  to  hope  for 
salvation,  because  they  have  been  7Xgularly  baptized 
in  infancy;  have  duly  attended  on  public  worship; 
hold  a  stout,  orthodox  creed,  and  do  no  bodily  harm 
to  their  neighbours ;  are  themselves  travelling,  and 
are  directing  their  followers,  along  a  very  broad, 
but  a  very  dangerous  road.  For  real  spiritual  re- 
generation implies  much  more  than  this,  namely  : 
that  our  hope  and  confidence  are  in  Christ,  not  in 
ourselves ;  and  that  if  we  desire  to  be  interested  in 
the  righteousness  which  he  has  wrought  out,  and  in 


I,ORD    TFIURLOW.  495 

tlic  blessings  which  lie  has  purchased  by  his  sacred 
blood,  we  must  he  experimentally  acquainted  with  the 
work  of  God's  renewing  grace  upon  our  souls,  trans- 
forming us  into  the  image  of  his  holiness.  Is  this  the 
case  with  all  episcopally  baptized  infants  ? 

Formalists  accuse  evangelical  ministers  of  en- 
couraging sin  by  their  preaching,  and  yet  of  being 
too  strict  in  their  prohibitions  of  innocent  amuse- 
ments. But  it  is  hard  to  reconcile  these  two  accu- 
sations together.  Truly,  the  legs  of  the  lame  are 
not  equal.  Formalists,  with  their  everlasting  pre- 
lections about  good  works,  and  their  dread  of  evan- 
gelical faitli  and  sinfulness,  admit  any  proi'ane  world- 
ling to  the  communion  table,  provided  he  exercise 
as  much  prudence  as  the  late  Lord  chancellor  Thurlow, 
of  whom  it  is  said,  that  there  were  only  two  places  in 
which  he  did  not  habitually  and  constantly  curse  and 
swear,  to  wit :  the  church  and  the  house  of  Lords  ;  but 
that  he  was  always  heard  to  growl  out  his  oaths 
in  the  church  porch,  and  in  the  lobby  of  the  peers' 
chamber. 

A  very  eminent  divine  of  the  present  day,  who,  in 
his  own  person,  has  experienced  the  awful  distance 
between  formalism  and  Christianity,  having  once 
been  an  unconverted,  though  baptized  philosopher, 
but  now  a  regenerated  believer,  has  recently  poured 
the  light  of  his  head  and  heart  upon  this  subject. 
He  has  forcibly  depicted  the  difference  between 
Uicre  water  baptism  and  spiritual  regeneration ;  be- 
tween a  Christian  and  a  formalist ;  and  has  also  shown 
the  opposition,  which  pure  and  undefiled  religion  must 
always  meet  from  an  unbelieving  world,  whether  bap- 
tized or  not. 

According  to  the  teachings  of  this  great  master  in 
Israel,  in  every  genuine  disciple  of  Christ,  we  not 
only  see  one,  who  delivered  from  the  burden  of  his 
fears,  rejoices  in  hope  of  a  coming  glory ;  but  one, 
who,  set  free  from  the  bondage  of  corruption,  and 
animated   by  a  new  love,  and  a  new  desire,  is  honest 


496  WORLDLY    MORALITV. 

in  the  purposes,  strenuous  in  the  efforts,  abundant 
in  the  works  of  obedience.  He  feels  the  instiga- 
tions of  sin,  and  tlius  differs  from  an  angel.  But 
he  follows  not  those  instigations,  and  thus  differs 
from  a  natural,  or  unconverted  man.  So  that  in  him, 
we  view  one  struggling,  with  effect,  against  his  earth- 
born  propensities,  and  yet  hateful  to  himself  for  their 
existence;  holier  and  yet  humbler  than  those  around 
him  ;  realizing  from  time  to  time,  a  positive  increase 
in  grace  and  excellence,  and  yet  more  tenderly  con- 
scious of  his  remaining  deformities  ;  gradually  ex- 
panding in  attainment,  as  well  as  in  desire,  towards 
the  liglit  and  liberty  of  heaven,  and  yet  groaning  un- 
der a  yoke,  from  which  death  alone  can  fully  emancipate 
him. 

'IMiere  is  a  morality  of  this  world  directly  oppos- 
ed to  the  humbling  representations  of  the  Gospel ; 
which  cannot  comprehend  what  is  meant  by  the  ut- 
ter worthlessness  and  depravity  of  our  nature  ; 
which  repels  witli  anger  such  a  statement,  in  the  full 
consciousness  of  its  own  superiority  to  tlie  sordid, 
the  profligate,  and  the  dishonourable  ;  which  is  for- 
tified in  resisting  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  by  flat- 
tering testimonials  to  its  own  respectability  and  worth, 
from  the  various  quarters  of  human  society.  A  just 
sense  of  the  extent  of  God's  claim  upon  his  own 
creatures,  would  teach  formalists,  that  to  do  some 
tilings  for  their  neighbours,  is  not  doing  all  things  for 
their  Maker;  that  a  natiu'al  principle  of  honesty  to 
man,  is  quite  distinct  from  a  principle  of  entire  de- 
votedness  to  God ;  that  the  tithe  bestowed  upon 
others,  is  not  an  equivalent  for  a  total  dedication  to 
God  of  themselves,  and  of  all  that  they  have  ;  that 
they  may  present  those  around  them  with  many  offer- 
ings of  kindness,  and  not  present  their  bodies  a  liv- 
ing sacrifice  to  God,  which  is  their  reasonable  ser- 
vice ;  that  they  may  earn  a  cheap  and  easy  credit  for 
virtues  which  will  satisfy  the  world,  and  yet  be  en- 
tire strangers  to  the  self-denial,  the  spirituality,  the 
mortification    of  everv    earthly   desire,    and   the   affec- 


FORMAL    CALVINISTS    ANT)    AUMINIANS.       497 

tion  for  things   above ;  all  of  which  graces  enter,  as 
essential   ingredients,   into   the   sanctification    of    the 

Gospel. 

We  mistake  cgregiously,  if  we  suppose,  that  the 
offence  of  the  cross  has  ceased  from  our  land.  The 
persecution  of  contempt,  of  ridicule,  of  misrepresenta- 
tion, of  calumny,  on  the  part  of  the  openly  profane  and 
profligate  infidel,  the  more  decorous  worldling,  and  the 
decent  formalist,  is  still  the  appointed  trial  of  all  who 
would  live  godly,  and  of  all  who  would  zealously  and 
honestly  expound   the   doctrines   of  Christ   Jesus   our 

Lord. 

Christianity  is,  at  this  very  hour,  the  same  peculiar 
system  which  it  was  in  the  days  of  the  apostles ;  and  as 
nuich  signahzes  and  separates  its  followers  from  a  world 
lying  in  wickedness  and  unbelief.  The  reproach  cast 
upon  Paul,  that  he  was  mad,  because  he  was  an  intrepid 
follower  of  Christ,  is  still  preferred  against  every  faith- 
ful teaclier,  and  every  consistent  disciple  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  and  under  the  significant  watchwords  of 
"  methodism,  and  fanaticism,  and  Calvinism,"  a  hostile 
and  an  unbelieving  world  is  always  ready  to  discharge 
from  its  innumerable  batteries,  as  abundant  a  shower 
of  invective  and  contumely  noiv,  as  in  the  first  ages  of 
Christianity. 

Indeed,  all  formalists,  of  whatever  religious  denomi- 
nation, are  alike  especially  full  of  perfect  hatred  to  evan- 
gelical truth,  doctrine,  and  practice.  For  example,  the 
formal  Calvinist  accuses  his  minister  of  being  a  legalist, 
if  he  enforce  the  practical  duties  of  a  holy  life  and  con- 
versation as  enjoined  in  the  sacred  Scriptures.  And 
the  formal  Arminian  calls  his  clergyman  a  Calvinist,  if 
he  set  forth  the  doctrines  of  grace,  to  wit :  original  sin  ; 
spiritual,  nut  baptismal  regeneration,  and  justification 
by  faith. 

15oth  tliesc  contradictory  charges  arise  from  the 
same  dislike  of  evangelical  truth  and  doctrine ;  al- 
though a})pcaring  in  different  forms.  The  formal 
Calvinist  wishes  to  rest  on  his  doctrinal  orthodoxy 
alone,  and  not  to  be  reminded  of  his  neglect  of  the 

2  K 


498  MARKS    OF    FORMAT, ISiAI. 

practical  duties  of  Cliristiaiiity,  and  liis  habitual  per- 
severauce  in  forbidden  and  known  sins.  The  formal 
Anninian  desires  to  claim  some  merit  from  Ids  own 
works  of  righteousness,  and  is  offended  with  those 
truly  Scriptural  tenets,  which  declare  the  humbling 
lesson  of  man's  utter  inability  to  accomplish  his  own 
salvation,  which  is  wrought  out  entirehj  by  the  sacri- 
fice, the  righteousness,  and  the  intercession  of  the 
Lord  Clirist ;  and  which  place  good  works  in  their 
proper  and  subordinate  station,  as  the  evidence  of  a 
living  faith. 

In  truth,  the  distinguishing:  characteristics  of  full 
lormalism  are,  the  divesting  religion  of  all  its  spi- 
rituality, and  reducing  it  to  a  mere  secular  scheme 
of  external  ordinances,  rites,  and  ceremonies ;  the 
being  conformed  to  the  world  ;  the  paying  constant 
court  to  the  rich  and  powerful,  and  not  preaching  the 
Gos])el  to  the  poor. 

How  far  such  a  system  coincides  with  Christianity, 
any  one  who  reads  the  Bible  may  discover.  But  all 
this,  and  much  more  than  all  this,  necessarily  re- 
sults from  enforcing  the  popish  doctrine  of  baptismal 
regeneration  ;  which  is  the  chief  corner  stone  of  the 
unscriptural  building  of  formalists.  The  children  of 
this  world,  however,  are  wiser  in  their  generation 
than  the  children  of  light ;  and  the  formalists  studi- 
ously coinciding  with,  instead  of  opposing  the  natural 
depravity  of  the  human  heart,  and  hardened  by  the 
deceitfulness  of  their  own  sinful  self- righteousness, 
are  always  gathering  coadjutors  and  supporters  out  of 
that  world,  which,  according  to  tlie  express  declara- 
tion of  Holy  Writ,  lieth  in  v.ickedncss,  without  God, 
and  without  Christ,  and  without  hope;  as  to  all  S2)i- 
ritual  things  ;  the  things  that  belong  unto  our  ever- 
lasting peace. 

Nor  is  this  any  new  thing  under  the  sun;  for  (ill 
secular,  unregenerate  priests,  whether  baptized  or 
not,  in  all  ages,  and  in  all  countries  of  the  world, 
have  pursued  the  same  scheme  of  personal  ambition, 
and    self-aggrandizement ;    and   have    made   the    same 


FOUMAL    PUIKSTS.  I'OO 

incessant   efforts   to  stifle  all  religious  feeling,  and  all 
conscientious  devotion  in  the  surrounding  community. 

For  example,  the  pontiffs  and  soothsayers  of  pagan 
Home ;  the  priests  of  Baal,  who  corrupted  tlie  Is- 
raelites; the  Brahmuns,  who  have  entailed  super- 
stition, and  lust,  and  cruelty,  upon  the  miserable 
millions  of  Hindusthan  ;  the  papal  hierarchy,  which 
kept  all  Europe  down  in  darkness,  tears  and  blood, 
through  the  long  period  of  a  thousand  years;  and  the 
protestant  formal  clergy  of  England's  established 
church,  who,  during  the  reign  of  the  Tudors,  and  the 
Stuarts,  visited  all  evangelism  with  fine,  and  impri- 
sonment, and  pillory,  and  the  scourge,  and  the  gallows; 
and  who,  since  the  expulsion  of  the  second  James,  have 
persecuted  all  Gospel  truth,  and  all  practical  piety, 
to,  at  least,  the  full  extent  permitted  by  the  existing 
laws. 

Hence,  with  the  intervention  of  a  single  epithet, 
Dryden's  position  is  correct,  for  Jm^mal  "  priests  of  all 
religions  a/^e  alike." 

In  Mr.  Fletcher's  "Appeal,"  the  reader  may  find 
some  very  instructive  and  interesting  facts  and  observa- 
tions on  original  sin,  spiritual  regeneration,  and  the 
pre])Osterous  conceits  of  unconverted  formalists,  as  to 
their  own  goodness.  In  this  original  and  eloquent 
work,  the  truly  evangelical  writer  proves  his  positions, 
at  large,  from  the  Scriptures,  in  the  words  of  the 
prophets,  the  apostles,  and  the  Lord  Christ :  and  fi'om 
the  express  declarations  of  the  liturgy,  articles,  and 
homilies  of  the  Anglican  Church. 

In  addition  to  which,  man  is  considered  as  an  in- 
habitant of  the  natural,  a  citizen  of  the  moral,  a  pil- 
grim in  the  Christian  world.  And  the  whole  is 
closed  with  important  spiritual  inferences,  and  earnest 
cxiiortations  to  an  harmonious  union  of  a  living  faith 
wilh  a  loving  obedience  to  God's  holy  law  ;  steering 
alike  clear  of  the  equally  ruinous,  though  opposite 
errors  of  the  immoral  antinomian,  and  the  self-right- 
eous formalist. 

I    had   almost  forgotten    to   mention    bishop  Kay's 


500  BISHOP    KAY. 

novel  argument  in  support  of  baptismal  regeneration. 
In  his   primary  charge,  delivered  in  1821,  as  diocesan 
of  Bristol,    he  says,  that   this  doctrine   would  be  ge- 
nerally   believed    in    England,    if  it  were  not  for  the 
custom   of  baptizing  children  in  private  houses,  instead 
of  churches.     Does  Dr.  Kay  think  that  the  regenera- 
ting influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit  so  depend  upon  time 
and  place,  as  to  operate  in  a  building,  called  a  church, 
and  to  be  ineffectual   in    a  building  called  a  house  ? 
This  question,  however,  is  needless,  because  our  bap- 
tismal  regeneration    men   do    not  allow  any   spiritual 
efficacy  to  baptism  performed  in  2^/iconsecrated  meeting- 
houses,   by    nonepiscopalians    whose    administration    of 
every  Christian  ordinance  is  pronounced  to  be   unau- 
thorized and  invalid. 


THE    END. 


i.oN  noN  : 

rUlNTKD     BY     S.     AND     R.     H  |;  N  T  I.  K  V ,     POKSKI     SIIIKI.!' 


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